# Axelera AI

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/axelera-ai
Axelera AI is an Eindhoven startup making low-power chips that run AI models inside cameras, robots, drones and servers rather than in a distant data centre. Its 2026 round was the largest ever for an EU AI chip company.

## In brief

- Raised $250M+ Series C in Feb 2026 led by Innovation Industries; over $450M raised in total.
- Europa chip (629 TOPS) shipping since Sep 2026 in Dell and Supermicro systems; 600+ customers.
- Titania data-centre chiplet, backed by up to €61.6M from EuroHPC, targeted for 2027-2028.

## Facts

- Founded: 2021
- Headquarters: NL
- Status: private
- Raised: $250M
- Website: https://axelera.ai
- Frontiers: [Computing](https://technooptimist.io/computing.md) (Inference chips), [Robotics](https://technooptimist.io/robotics.md)

## Programs

- [Europa AIPU](https://technooptimist.io/computing/europa.md) (Computing): Deploy; next: Titania data-centre chiplet (2028). Shipping as of Sep 2026, validated in Dell and Supermicro systems; Titania data-centre chiplet due 2027-28.

## Technical approach

- **D-IMC: Multiply inside the memory**: Its digital in-memory compute does the multiply-and-add steps of a neural network inside the SRAM arrays that hold the weights, saving energy on data movement.
- **RISC-V: Open vector cores beside the AI cores**: RISC-V vector processors handle the non-AI steps such as pre- and post-processing, so the chip does not need a big host CPU.
- **Process: Avoids the newest nodes**: Chips are made in Taiwan and South Korea on older processes, which keeps costs down and makes switching fabs easier.

## Open problems

- **Software against NVIDIA's lead** (open): Customers train on NVIDIA and must port models to Axelera's Voyager SDK; every new model type needs support.
- **Moving from edge to data centre** (open): Titania targets data centres and supercomputers, a market dominated by far larger GPU and accelerator makers.

## Latest updates

- **17 Sep 2026**: Axelera's Europa chips ship in Dell and Supermicro systems as customers pass 600. Products based on Europa are now shipping and work with selected Dell and Supermicro servers, moving Axelera from edge devices into enterprise servers. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/axelera-s-europa-chips-ship-in-dell-and-supermicro-systems-as-customers-8e454ffe.md) · [original source](https://ioplus.nl/en/posts/axelera-ai-takes-on-nvidia-with-its-new-europa-chip))
- **Feb 2026**: Axelera AI raises over $250M Series C, the largest investment in an EU AI chip company. Axelera AI raised a $250M Series C led by Innovation Industries, with BlackRock and SiteGround Capital joining existing backers. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/axelera-ai-raises-over-250m-series-c-the-largest-investment-in-an-eu-ai-881d01f5.md) · [original source](https://www.osborneclarke.com/news/osborne-clarke-has-advised-bitfury-top-holdco-bvon-250-million-series-c-investment-axelera-ai))
- **24 Oct 2025**: Axelera unveils Europa: 629 TOPS, 128 MB on-chip memory and 16 RISC-V cores. Axelera announced its second-generation Europa chip with eight second-generation AI cores delivering up to 629 TOPS, plus 16 RISC-V vector processors, 128 MB of on-chip SRAM and 200 GB/s of LPDDR5 bandwidth. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/axelera-unveils-europa-629-tops-128-mb-on-chip-memory-and-16-risc-v-052fb0d6.md) · [original source](https://convergedigest.com/axelera-launches-europa-aipu-with-629-tops/))
- **6 Mar 2025**: Axelera AI gets up to €61.6M from EuroHPC to build Titania, a data-centre inference chiplet. Through the EU's DARE RISC-V project, Axelera received up to €61.6M to develop Titania, an inference chiplet combining its in-memory compute with RISC-V cores, with several chiplets packaged together. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/axelera-ai-gets-up-to-61-6m-from-eurohpc-to-build-titania-a-data-centre-c89ac1e6.md) · [original source](https://www.dutchnews.nl/businesswire/axelera-ai-secures-up-to-e61-6-million-grant-to-develop-scalable-ai-chiplet-for-high-performance-computing/))
- **15 Dec 2022**: Axelera AI announces Metis, a 214 TOPS edge AI chip built on digital in-memory computing. Axelera AI unveiled its first chip, Metis, a quad-core inference processor whose cores multiply inside SRAM memory. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/axelera-ai-announces-metis-a-214-tops-edge-ai-chip-built-on-digital-in-b0bdbf10.md) · [original source](https://axelera.ai/axelera-ai-announces-metis-ai-platform))

## Funding

| Date | Round | Amount | Post-money | Leads |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Feb 2026 | Series C | $250M |   | Innovation Industries |

## Partners, customers and investors

- EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (partner): Up to €61.6M through the DARE RISC-V project to develop the Titania chiplet.
- Samsung Catalyst Fund (investor): Investor; Samsung is also a manufacturing partner.
- BlackRock (investor): New investor in the 2026 Series C.
- Dell (partner): Validated systems with Europa cards.

## People

- Fabrizio Del Maffeo, Co-founder & CEO
- Evangelos Eleftheriou, Co-founder & CTO

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