SiPearl completes record Series A as Europe bets on homegrown HPC processors

SiPearl, a French fabless semiconductor company born out of the European Processor Initiative project, announced the final closing of its Series A financing at €130 million on 9 July 2025. The third and final tranche added €32 million and included new participation from Cathay Venture alongside existing public and private backers. The funds are earmarked to industrialise Rhea1, SiPearl’s first family of high-performance, energy-efficient processors, and to accelerate research into next-generation processors for supercomputing and artificial intelligence.

Where SiPearl stands and what this funding buys

Since incorporation in January 2020 SiPearl has grown to about 200 employees across France, Spain and Italy. The company claims Rhea1 is the most complex processor designed in Europe. The chip has already completed tape-out and was sent to TSMC for manufacturing steps shortly before the closing announcement. SiPearl expects Rhea1 to be available for sampling from early 2026. The company says Rhea1 will feature in the CPU cluster of JUPITER, the first European exascale supercomputer, while also being used in several collaborative projects aimed at building a sovereign European cloud.

Funding round composition and partners

The Series A now totals €130 million. The third tranche was led by Cathay Venture, marking Cathay’s first investment in France. Other investors named include Arm, Atos Group via Eviden, the European Investment Bank, the EIC Fund, French Tech Souveraineté representing the French state, and a banking syndicate led by Caisse d’Epargne Rhône Alpes. The EIC Fund is an active backer through the blended finance model that pairs EIC Accelerator grants with equity investments.

Technical goals: Rhea1 and the exascale connection

SiPearl describes Rhea1 as a high-performance, low-power processor family targeted at high performance computing and AI workloads. The company positions the chip as European designed silicon that will be incorporated into HPC systems and cloud projects that emphasise sovereignty. Rhea1 is due to be sampled in early 2026 and has been allocated to the CPU cluster of JUPITER, a European exascale supercomputer supported by EuroHPC and the EU’s DIGITAL programme.

SiPearl frames Rhea1 as part of a broader European effort to build sovereign capabilities in HPC and AI. The company also cites participation in collaborative projects such as Aero, OpenCUBE, HIGHER and Riser that target cloud sovereignty and industry applications.

Statements from leadership and the EIC

Philippe Notton, SiPearl’s CEO and founder, said the geopolitical and economic context validates SiPearl’s founding vision that sovereign hardware is necessary for European independence in AI and strategic domains like defence. He highlighted the tape-out and the choice to partner with Taiwan for manufacturing while arguing Europe needs independent design and strong international partners.

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, noted SiPearl was among the first companies backed by the EIC Fund and that the latest Series A closing was the largest Series A in the European fabless semiconductor industry. She framed the investment as strengthening Europe’s position in HPC and AI and advancing technological sovereignty.

Context, caveats and strategic tensions

The announcement is a milestone for European chip design but it also illustrates recurring policy and industrial dilemmas. Europe remains heavily reliant on Asian foundries, notably TSMC in Taiwan, for leading node manufacturing. SiPearl’s reliance on TSMC for Rhea1 wafer fabrication shows how homegrown design and globalised manufacturing coexist. That coexistence may limit the strategic independence that the term sovereignty implies in practice.

Fabless design reduces capital intensity but raises supply chain and geopolitical exposure. If EU policy aims for true supply chain resilience, complementary investments would be needed in European capacity for packaging, advanced nodes or diversified foundry relationships. The funding mix for SiPearl includes public sovereign investors and institutional finance which helps de-risk the venture, but private manufacturing capacity remains outside Europe for now.

EIC Accelerator and blended finance in perspective

SiPearl is an example of the EIC Accelerator blended finance model. The EIC Accelerator offers grants up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments through the EIC Fund typically ranging from €0.5 million to €10 million, with larger investments possible for technologies of strategic interest. Beyond direct funding the EIC provides Business Acceleration Services to help scale-ups with corporate introductions, investor outreach and market access.

Implications for European policy and the semiconductor ecosystem

SiPearl’s Series A will be used to industrialise Rhea1 and pursue next generation processors. For EU policymakers and ecosystem actors the practical questions are how to turn design wins into sustained industrial capacity and how to reduce systemic dependencies. The EIC Fund’s participation adds legitimacy and helps attract co-investors. But public backing of design centric start-ups will need to be paired with industrial policies that address fabs, packaging, equipment, talent retention and software stacks.

Progress indicators to watch in the coming 12 to 24 months include successful tape-in and production ramps at foundries, power and performance metrics from Rhea1 samples, integration milestones with JUPITER and other projects, follow-on financing rounds, and commitments to onshore or diversify supply chain capabilities.

What to watch next

The announcement is important for signalling investor appetite for European deep tech in semiconductors. It is also a reminder that sovereignty in technology is a layered objective that requires more than design capability. The near term test for SiPearl will be converting design and sampling into robust production and customer adoption while navigating supply chain constraints. For European policy the test will be whether public investments across grants, equity and industrial policy lead to a more resilient semiconductor ecosystem rather than isolated design successes.

Readers interested in the EIC Accelerator should note the programme offers grants up to €2.5 million plus equity through the EIC Fund from €0.5 million upwards, and that companies can apply for blended finance, grant only, or equity only depending on maturity and strategic focus. The EIC also provides Business Acceleration Services covering coaching, investor readiness and market matching.