Steam Owner Gabe Newell Enters Brain Chip Business, Rivaling Elon Musk: Here Are the Details

Metaverse Planet June 18, 2025Last Updated: June 20, 2025

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Starfish, the brain chip company founded by Valve CEO Gabe Newell, has unveiled its plans. The production of the company’s first brain chips is set to begin this year. Here’s what you need to know.

Gabe Newell, co-founder and CEO of Valve, the owner of the world’s largest gaming platform Steam, has been making moves in the brain-computer interface (BCI) field for some time. The famous figure even established an initiative named “Starfish-Neuroscience” in recent years. This venture aims to rival Elon Musk’s brain chip company, Neuralink.

Now, information about Starfish-Neuroscience’s plans has emerged. A blog post shared by the company states that the first brain chips will begin production this year. It was also mentioned that Starfish will have a feature that will differentiate it from Neuralink. Starfish believes that implanting multiple chips in the brain, rather than just one, would be more effective.

According to the company’s statement, it’s not yet possible to call the chip a “full implant.” Instead, it’s described as an “electrophysiology” chip designed to record brain activity, interact with computers, and stimulate the brain. While the company has designed the chip, its statement also indicates that it doesn’t yet have the necessary systems to power it or the requirements for implanting it in humans. This means the chip will be ready this year, but there’s no information yet regarding implants.

The statement mentions that the chips are ready, and they are interested in finding partners who can open new and exciting avenues for them. This suggests that the company might collaborate with different firms for implantation and related matters. Starfish’s chip will feature dimensions of 2×4 mm, 32 electrode points, 16 simultaneous recording channels at 18.75 kHz, low power consumption at 1.1 mW, and the capability for both recording and stimulation.

There will also be a feature that distinguishes this chip from rivals like Neuralink. Starfish’s goal is to create a smaller and less invasive implant than its competitors, providing devices that allow “access to multiple brain regions” and don’t require batteries. Only time will tell if they succeed in this endeavor.