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(Bloomberg) — Dutch chipmaker Axelera AI raised more than $250 million from investors including BlackRock Inc. to make power-efficient semiconductors that are designed to run artificial intelligence models after they’ve been trained.
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The round, which confirms a Bloomberg report last year, was led by European venture capital fund Innovation Industries, Axelera said in a statement Tuesday. It included participation from existing investors like Samsung Catalyst and new ones like BlackRock.
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Axelera AI makes chips for inference, the process of running AI models in real-world applications. While much inference still takes place in the cloud, it can also be deployed locally on devices such as phones or security cameras. The firm’s chips are designed for such “edge” applications, which aim to reduce reliance on large data centers powered by GPUs such as those made by Nvidia Corp.
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While Nvidia’s chips are still the dominant products for training and running AI models, the inference market is expanding rapidly as companies monetize their AI investments.
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Last year, Nvidia reached a licensing deal with AI startup Groq, which produces low-latency chips similar to the ones Axelera focuses on. Nevada-based startup Positron, which makes AI chips for inference, this month raised $230 million in a funding round.
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Axelera has “a large pipeline of opportunities that require investments and this pipeline is increasing,” Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Del Maffeo said in an interview with Bloomberg. Customers are looking for more accessible compute, efficiency and a way to reduce spending on costly AI infrastructure, he added.
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Axelera is headquartered in the Netherlands’s Eindhoven region, which is also home to chip machine giant ASML Holding NV, Europe’s most valuable company.
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Inference can run on a decentralized chip architecture that’s less power hungry, Del Maffeo said. The intensive energy requirements of the large data centers needed to train AI models have come under scrutiny amid concerns about straining power grids and soaring energy costs for consumers.
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Axelera AI did not disclose a valuation in the latest round. It has attracted over $450 million in equity, grants and venture debt since incorporating in 2021. The firm’s customer base has more than tripled in the past year, it said.
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