Eindhoven’s Axelera AI raises €211 million for energy-efficient AI chips

Eindhoven-based chipmaker Axelera AI has secured over 250 million dollars (211 million euros) in fresh investment. The company produces energy-efficient semiconductors designed to power artificial intelligence models. U.S. asset manager BlackRock joined as a new investor, while the funding round was led by European venture capital firm Innovation Industries.

Axelera AI develops chips tailored for inference, the stage at which trained AI models generate predictions or make decisions from new data. While inference often runs in the cloud, it can also be performed directly on devices like smartphones and security cameras. The company’s hardware is built for on-device applications, seeking to lessen dependence on large data centers and graphics processors such as Nvidia’s.

CEO Fabrizio Del Maffeo said Axelera AI faces “a large and growing stream of opportunities that require investment.” Customers, he noted, are seeking more affordable computing power, improved efficiency, and lower spending on costly AI infrastructure. Running inference directly on devices via decentralized chips reduces the need for energy-hungry data centers. As electricity grids come under strain and energy prices climb, demand for this approach is rising.

While Nvidia’s chips still dominate the market, demand for energy-efficient semiconductors is expanding. Axelera AI has secured over 450 million dollars in funding since its launch in 2021, and says its customer base has more than tripled in the past year.