European chip startup Axelera wins AI factory supply deals and launches second chip

By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Dutch chipmaking startup Axelera AI has signed multiple contracts to supply chips to AI factories, it said on Tuesday as it launched "Europa", its second generation of chips, which can be used in specified Dell and Supermicro products.

An AI factory is a data centre or scientific computing centre devoted to training and running artificial intelligence software. 

CEO Fabrizio Del Maffeo in a phone call with Reuters declined to give precise details, but said the company now has more than 600 customers using Axelera's chips for applications in security, defence, in AI factories and in enterprise settings.

"We have signed deals worth tens of millions," he said.    

He said the company is pursuing $1.5 billion in potential sales, though that figure does not represent orders or revenue. 

Privately-held Axelera has raised more than $450 million since it was founded in Eindhoven in 2021.

The European Union is revamping its existing network of supercomputing centres into AI factories to try to narrow the gap with the U.S. and China and ensure local firms and scientists have access to AI computing power.

Axelera is working with Dell and systems integrator E4 as one of the suppliers of the EU-backed IT4LIA project in Italy and the EU-backed MeluXina project in Luxembourg, among others, the company said.

Axelera is among the European chip startups attacking the AI inference market, meaning chips that are used to run, not train, AI models. Its first generation of Metis chips was aimed at "edge applications" used on site, for instance analysing security data at a factory.

Europa is designed for heavier jobs, for instance on corporate servers, while a future "Titania" chiplet architecture will target use in data centres and supercomputers. 

European peers and rivals include France's VSORA, Britain's Fractile, Spain's Semidynamics and the Netherlands' Euclyd. Euclyd separately announced a €200 million ($230.80 million) funding round on Tuesday.

($1 = 0.8666 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Barbara Lewis)