Axelera AI

'''Axelera AI''' is a Netherlands-based chip company founded in 2021 as a spin-off from imec.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lykiardopoulou |first=Ioanna |date=July 29, 2024 |title=3 promising European startups in the race for next-generation chip |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/3085700240 |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=TheNextWeb.com |id={{ProQuest|3085700240}} }}</ref> It develops AI processing units (AIPU) for robots and drones, as well as cars, medical devices, and security cameras.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Geschwindt |first=Sion |date=18 December 2024 |title=Dutch startups raised $3.5B in 2024. Here are the 10 largest funding rounds |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/3146228669 |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=TheNextWeb.com |id={{ProQuest|3146228669}} }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Bradshaw |first=Tim |date=July 21, 2023 |title=Start-ups seek to challenge Nvidia's dominance over AI chip market |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2840193008 |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=FT.com |id={{ProQuest|2840193008}}}}</ref> The company's CEO is Fabrizio Del Maffeo.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 February 2025 |title=India: DeepSeek gives Europe's tech firms a chance to catch up in global AI race |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/3163503401 |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=Asia News Monitor |id={{ProQuest|3163503401}} }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 2025, it received a grant of €61.6 million to develop its Titania chip for generative AI and computer vision processing from the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking DARE project.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Van Klinken |first=Erik |date=6 March 2025 |title=Dutch startup Axelera AI raises over 60 million and unveils new chip |url=https://www.techzine.eu/news/devices/129384/dutch-startup-axelera-ai-raises-over-60-million-and-unveils-new-chip/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=TechZine}}</ref> Previously it raised $200 million from Samsung and other investors.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sterling |first=Toby |date=6 March 2025 |title=Dutch chipmaker AxeleraAI gets $66 million EU grant |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/dutch-chipmaker-axeleraai-gets-66-million-eu-grant-2025-03-06/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

== Funding == Axelera AI has raised multiple rounds of venture capital and public funding since its founding.

In 2021, the company raised approximately US$12 million in seed financing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Axelera AI Funding Overview |url=https://www.clay.com/dossier/axelera-ai-funding |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Clay}}</ref> In October 2022, Axelera AI secured a Series A funding round of about US$27 million, led by Innovation Industries, and additionally received an innovation credit from the Dutch government valued at approximately US$6.7 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Axelera AI – Our Story |url=https://axelera.ai/our-story |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Axelera AI}}</ref> A follow‑on Series A extension in 2023 brought total Series A funding to around US$50 million.

On 27 June 2024, Axelera AI announced a Series B round of roughly US$68 million, described as one of Europe's largest oversubscribed Series B rounds in the fabless semiconductor sector.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Axelera AI Raises $68M Series B |url=https://axelera.ai/news/axelera-ai-raises-68-million-series-b-funding-to-accelerate-next-generation-ai |access-date=2025-11-21 |website=Axelera AI}}</ref> Investors included the European Innovation Council Fund, Innovation Industries, Invest-NL, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Verve Ventures, Bitfury, and SFPIM.

In March 2025, the company was awarded a grant of up to €61.6 million from the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking as part of the DARE (Digital Autonomy with RISC‑V for Europe) project to support the development of a high‑performance AI chiplet.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Axelera AI Raises €61.6M and Unveils High-Performance AI Chiplet |url=https://tech.eu/2025/03/06/axelera-ai-raises-61-6m-and-unveils-high-performance-ai-chiplet |access-date=2025-11-21 |work=Tech.eu}}</ref>

By mid‑2025, Axelera AI was estimated to have raised more than US$200 million (over €200 million) in combined equity investment and public grants. In August 2025, reports indicated the company was seeking an additional funding round exceeding €150 million to expand its activities in edge‑AI and data‑centre markets.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Axelera AI Funding: Europe's Chip Race |url=https://techfundingnews.com/axelera-ai-funding-europe-chip-race |access-date=2025-11-21 |work=TechFundingNews}}</ref>

==Products== ===Metis===

Axelera AI's first commercial chip family, Metis, is designed for edge-AI inference workloads such as computer vision, robotics, and embedded industrial applications. The Metis AIPU delivers a peak performance of up to 214 TOPS (INT8) with an efficiency of approximately 15 TOPS/W.<ref name="Metis1">{{Cite news |last=Di Paolo Emilio |first=Maurizio |date=21 November 2023 |title=Axelera AI Platform Accelerates Edge Application Deployment |url=https://www.eetimes.com/axelera-ai-platform-accelerates-edge-application-deployment/ |access-date=2025-11-20 |work=EE Times}}</ref> It is offered in several form factors, including M.2 accelerator modules, PCIe cards with one Metis processor, and higher-performance accelerator cards integrating four Metis AIPUs (up to ~856 TOPS).<ref name="Metis2">{{Cite web |title=Axelera AI Accelerators |url=https://axelera.ai/ai-accelerators/ |access-date=2025-11-20 |publisher=Axelera AI}}</ref>

The Metis platform is supported by the company's Voyager SDK and a model library aimed at simplifying deployment of AI inference at the edge.<ref name="Metis3">{{Cite web |title=Metis AIPU |url=https://axelera.ai/ai-accelerators/aipu/metis/ |access-date=2025-11-20 |publisher=Axelera AI}}</ref>

===Europa===

In 2025 Axelera AI introduced Europa, a next-generation inference processor targeting edge servers, enterprise systems, and rack-mount deployments. The chip is specified to provide up to 629 TOPS (INT8).<ref name="Europa1">{{Cite news |title=Axelera AI launches Europa chip for edge AI applications |url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/axelera-ai-launches-europa-chip-for-edge-ai-applications/ |date=21 October 2025 |access-date=2025-11-20 |work=DataCenterDynamics}}</ref> Europa incorporates Axelera's second-generation digital-in-memory-compute (D-IMC) architecture across eight AI cores, along with two clusters of RISC-V vector cores used for pre- and post-processing operations.<ref name="Europa2">{{Cite news |title=Europa KI-Chips: Axelera AI fordert Nvidia heraus |url=https://www.crn.de/news/2025/translated/europa-ki-chips-axelera-ai-fordert-nvidia-heraus/ |date=22 October 2025 |access-date=2025-11-20 |work=CRN.de}}</ref> The design includes 64 GB of memory, 200 GB/s DRAM bandwidth, and 128 MB of on-chip L2 SRAM.<ref name="Europa2" />

Shipments of Europa-based PCIe accelerators are expected to begin in the first half of 2026.<ref name="Europa3">{{Cite news |title=European chipmaker Axelera AI launches second AI inference chip |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/european-chipmaker-axelera-launches-second-ai-inference-chip-2025-10-21/ |date=21 October 2025 |access-date=2025-11-20 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

===Titania and Future Development===

Axelera AI has announced development of a future high-performance inference processor codenamed Titania, intended for data-centre-class compute and large-scale AI inference. In 2025 the company received funding from the EU's EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to support the development of this RISC-V-based architecture.<ref name="Titania1">{{Cite news |title=Dutch chipmaker AxeleraAI gets €66 million EU grant |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/dutch-chipmaker-axeleraai-gets-66-million-eu-grant-2025-03-06/ |date=6 March 2025 |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Semiconductor companies of the Netherlands