SiPearl Closes 130 Mln Euros Series A To Power Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer

KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 (Bernama) -- SiPearl, the European startup developing energy-efficient processors for supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI), has completed the final 32 million euros tranche of its 130 million euros Series A funding round. (1 euro = RM4.96)

The Series A round is the largest ever for a fabless semiconductor company in Europe, according to SiPearl in a statement.

The latest funding tranche included contributions from existing investors, the EIC Fund and The French State, via French Tech Souveraineté, which is part of France 2030, as well as new participation from Taiwanese private equity firm Cathay Venture, marking its first investment in France.

Founded in January 2020 under the European Processor Initiative consortium and initially seed-funded by the European Union, SiPearl aims to restore Europe’s leadership in advanced processor technologies.

With a 200-strong team across France, Spain, and Italy, and sovereign semiconductor design infrastructure based in France, SiPearl recently achieved tape-out of its flagship chip, Rhea1. The processor, built with over 61 billion transistors and 80 Arm Neoverse V1 cores, is now in production at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Rhea1 will power the CPU cluster of JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, owned by EuroHPC JU and operated by Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Germany. The chip is a key element in securing Europe’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness in high-performance computing.

Proceeds from the round will accelerate industrialisation of Rhea1 and support research and development for next-generation processors aimed at supercomputing and new market segments, such as data centres, AI, and enterprises, ahead of the launch of Series B in a few weeks.

-- BERNAMA