While OpenAI's $110 billion raise dominated headlines, February's unicorn class tells a different story. Hardware startups—particularly in robotics and semiconductors—added the most new billion-dollar companies, with 27 firms joining The Crunchbase Unicorn Board. This marks a notable shift from AI's recent dominance, as six robotics companies and four semiconductor startups achieved unicorn status.

Nio GeniTech led semiconductor valuations with a $330 million Series A at $1.5 billion, while OpenAI's $840 billion valuation set a record for private companies. The U.S. maintained its dominance with 19 new unicorns, though China contributed four and the U.K. added two. Robotics companies like Bedrock Robotics ($270 million Series B, $1.8 billion valuation) and Spirit AI ($290 million Series A, $1.5 billion) attracted major investor interest.

Healthcare, cloud services, and foundational AI also minted multiple unicorns, including Garner Health ($118 million Series D, $1.4 billion) and Render ($100 million Series C, $1.5 billion). The geographic spread shows emerging hubs beyond Silicon Valley, with companies from Mumbai, London, and Beijing joining the ranks. This February's unicorn class reflects growing investor confidence in hardware innovation as a complement to software-driven AI advances.