Openchip lands €115M for European AI chips
Barcelona-based Openchip secured €115M from Spain’s state-backed SETT to develop AI and high-performance computing chips using RISC-V architecture.
Europe’s AI infrastructure push is not only about data centres. It is also about who designs the chips inside them.
What happened
Barcelona-based Openchip secured a €115M investment from SETT, Spain’s state-backed technology transformation body.
The company designs high-performance, energy-efficient chips for AI and high-performance computing, using an open RISC-V architecture.
Why it matters
AI compute is becoming a strategic capability. Countries and companies want more control over chip design, energy efficiency and supply chains as demand for AI infrastructure keeps rising.
Openchip’s funding is a strong signal that European semiconductor sovereignty is moving from policy language into direct investment.
The bigger picture
The AI race is increasingly tied to deeptech infrastructure: chips, power, cooling, data centres and specialised hardware. Europe cannot build a competitive AI ecosystem if it depends entirely on external compute supply.
Openchip sits in that strategic layer, where public capital and private technology development are starting to overlap more directly.