This could be wrong, but https://tracxn.com/d/companies/mill-computing/__5BCN3HKJOoke... says they raised US$100k in debt, and https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/mill-computing-inc says You Have Been Blocked but apparently told Google they were pre-seed funding. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/169749-55#funding claims that they raised US$3.2M (US$1.2M in angel funding in 02004 and US$2M in a seed round in 02016).
Even in 02016, I don't think US$2M was enough to tape out a silicon prototype of a working high-performance CPU. MPW ("shuttle") programs can give you working prototypes for as low as US$3000, but only in process nodes a decade or more behind the state of the art. US$30M is a much more plausible budget.
Sure, but even so they should have made real chips and iterated on silicon, not just simulations.
It’s the SpaceX rapid iteration development cycle vs NASA waterfall.