Openchip
Openchip is a European fabless semiconductor company designing RISC-V-based AI accelerators, SoCs, and full-stack software for HPC and AI workloads. Founded in 2021 in Barcelona as a BSC and GTD joint venture, it serves supercomputing centers, governments, and regulated enterprises pursuing sovereign compute.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersBarcelona, Spain
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Openchip does
Openchip (legal name: OPENCHIP & SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, S.L.) is a European fabless semiconductor company founded in 2021 in Barcelona as a joint venture between GTD Systems and Software Engineering and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). The company designs RISC-V-based high-performance accelerators and systems-on-chip (SoCs) targeting AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads, including scientific simulation, genomics, climate modeling, and large-scale AI training and inference. Its technical approach combines a chiplet-based modular architecture with a full-stack software platform comprising an in-house AI operating system, inference software, and integration with third-party tooling, allowing deployment from cloud and data center down to premise and edge environments. Differentiated IP includes the proprietary 'Takum' number format for scientific computing and RISC-V vector processing units co-developed with NEC for the Aurora supercomputer.
The business model rests on three revenue pillars: (1) hardware sales of RISC-V accelerator chips and SoCs to HPC data centers, supercomputing facilities, and large enterprise customers; (2) licensing and bundling of its full-stack software platform (AI OS, inference software) alongside hardware; and (3) non-dilutive R&D and deployment funding from European institutions, including €111M in EU NextGen Funds as an IPCEI-designated project, participation in the €240M DARE initiative coordinated by BSC, and alignment with the European Chips Act. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting supercomputing centers, government research institutions, and regulated critical-infrastructure buyers, supported by strategic co-development partnerships with NEC, SUSE, Baya Systems, imec, Panmnesia, and SUBMER. With 350+ employees across seven European countries and an Limerick design centre expanding to 70 staff, Openchip is positioning as a sovereign alternative to non-European AI silicon for European customers bound by NIS2, DORA, and the Cyber Resilience Act.
Openchip firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Openchip
- Legal name
- OPENCHIP & SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES, S.L.
- Website
- https://openchip.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Openchip is a European fabless semiconductor company designing RISC-V-based AI accelerators, SoCs, and full-stack software for HPC and AI workloads. Founded in 2021 in Barcelona as a BSC and GTD joint venture, it serves supercomputing centers, governments, and regulated enterprises pursuing sovereign compute.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Openchip industry classification
Industry- Product category
- RISC-V AI and HPC Semiconductor Accelerators
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Advanced SoCs & Application Processors (HDAHAAAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Server Systems & HGX/Accelerator Platforms (HDAAAAAB), Silicon IP Subsystems & Chiplet IP (Die-to-Die, UCIe, NoC, I/O chiplets) (HDAHAFAH), System-on-Chip (SoC) Platforms (Mobile/Consumer/Embedded) (HDAHAJAC), Hyperscale & OCP Server Designs (HDABADAB)
Keywords
Where Openchip is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Barcelona
- HQ country
- Spain
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices7 records
Markets served
Openchip business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- RISC-V Accelerator Hardware Sales: Sale of high-performance RISC-V-based accelerator chips and SoCs to HPC data centers, supercomputing facilities, and enterprise customers. Hardware products include vector processing units and multi-chiplet accelerator systems designed for AI and HPC workloads.
- Full-Stack Software Platform Licensing: Integrated software platform including AI OS, inference software, and system software bundled with or licensed alongside hardware for deployment in data center, HPC, and edge environments.
- EU and Government-Funded R&D Grants: Funding received through IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest), EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, and European Chips Act programs including the €240M DARE project and €111M EU NextGen Funds.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Openchip product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Openchip designs and develops in-house RISC-V-based high-performance accelerator chips and systems-on-chip (SoCs) for AI and HPC workloads, using a chiplet-based modular architecture. The company also provides a full-stack software platform including an AI operating system, inference software, and orchestration tools that bundle with the hardware for deployment across cloud, premise, and edge environments.
Product overview
Openchip is a full-stack semiconductor company offering an integrated portfolio of RISC-V-based hardware and software solutions. The core offering consists of high-performance RISC-V-based accelerators and systems-on-chip (SoC) designed for AI and HPC workloads, complemented by a full-stack software platform that includes AI OS, inference software, and development tools. These hardware products are built using chiplet-based modular architecture enabling scalability from cloud to edge deployments. The product portfolio also includes specialized multi-chiplet systems developed in partnership with Baya Systems, and complete AI/HPC infrastructure solutions combining accelerators with advanced interconnect technologies. The company serves applications across HPC supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cloud, telecommunications, automotive, healthcare, and meteorology sectors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- RISC-V-Based Accelerators
Companies that use Openchip
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Openchip technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability5 records
Feature6 records
Openchip partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.
- SUSEcoreSUSE and Openchip signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop Europe's first enterprise-grade sovereign technology stack spanning from RISC-V-based hardware architectures to open source software. The partnership aims to optimize SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Kubernetes Engine (RKE2), SUSE Rancher Prime, and SUSE AI Factory for Openchip's upcoming RISC-V hardware. Collaboration spans native RISC-V hardware enablement, RVA23 profile integration, Kubernetes extensions, and sovereign AI infrastructure development.
- Baya SystemscoreOpenchip has licensed Baya Systems' data-movement platform and Network-on-Chip (NoC) technology to develop specialized RISC-V-based multi-chiplet systems for next-generation AI workloads. Openchip uses Baya's WeaveIP unified fabric and WeaverPro FabricStudio platform to design and optimize complex multi-chiplet systems, enabling early software simulation of data movement before silicon fabrication. This reduces development risk, cuts time-to-market, and optimizes power-performance-area at scale.
- PanmnesiasecondaryPanmnesia, a South Korean AI infrastructure interconnect technology company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Openchip at MWC26 to address interoperability and scalability challenges in the European supercomputing ecosystem. The collaboration focuses on technical collaboration exploring link standards and system architecture configurations to enhance performance, scalability, and resource efficiency in AI accelerator environments, combining RISC-V accelerators with advanced CXL 3.2 switching technology.
- Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital)minorOpenchip and MWCapital joined forces to promote technology transfer projects and digital talent. The collaboration complements MWCapital's activities in venture building, technology validation, startup creation, and industrial innovation, focusing on talent development and technology ecosystem building in Barcelona.
- NEC CorporationcoreOpenchip and NEC announced plans to co-develop RISC-V based vector processing units for NEC's Aurora supercomputer. The collaboration follows a successful feasibility study and aims to advance high-performance computing and AI workloads. NEC provides over 30 years of supercomputing architecture expertise including its SX Series vector supercomputers, while Openchip contributes RISC-V accelerator design and BSC's HPC expertise.
- SUBMERsecondaryOpenchip and SUBMER joined forces to promote European Digital Sovereignty through sustainable and high-performance data centers. The partnership combines Openchip's RISC-V accelerator expertise with SUBMER's expertise in sustainable data center infrastructure.
- imeccoreOpenchip and imec, a global leader in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, signed a strategic MoU to jointly contribute to European Digital Sovereignty. The long-term collaboration aims to drive advancement of AI technologies through shared R&D capabilities and strategic alignment with European semiconductor initiatives.
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)coreOpenchip is the result of a joint venture between GTD Systems and Software Engineering and Barcelona Supercomputing Center. BSC, which manages MareNostrum (one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world), provides design expertise for RISC-V and parallel computing architectures. BSC is a founding partner and Openchip leverages BSC's deep HPC expertise as a European leader in RISC-V development.
- GTD Systems and Software EngineeringcoreGTD Systems and Software Engineering is a co-founding joint venture partner alongside BSC. GTD has over 30 years of experience offering first-class engineering in software, communications and control, implementing products and turnkey solutions for demanding sectors including aerospace, security, defense, logistics, energy and science. GTD contributes system integration and software engineering capabilities to the partnership.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Openchip competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- SiFive: SiFive is a leading RISC-V chip designer offering high-performance RISC-V application processors and AI IP cores. It is the most established commercial RISC-V competitor to Openchip, targeting similar enterprise, AI, and HPC workloads with comparable product positioning.
- Esperanto Technologies: Esperanto Technologies designs RISC-V-based AI accelerators and high-performance processors for AI and ML workloads in data centers. It competes directly with Openchip in the RISC-V AI accelerator space targeting similar enterprise and HPC customers.
- Tenstorrent: Tenstorrent is an AI accelerator company designing RISC-V-based processors for training and inference workloads. Led by Jim Keller, it targets similar AI and HPC markets with comparable RISC-V-based compute architectures and full-stack software.
- Cerebras Systems: Cerebras Systems designs wafer-scale AI accelerator chips for training and inference workloads in HPC and enterprise data centers. It competes for similar AI and HPC accelerator design wins with a different but overlapping architectural approach.
- SambaNova Systems: SambaNova Systems develops AI accelerator chips and full-stack platforms for enterprise and government AI deployments. It targets similar enterprise and government AI customers with full-stack hardware-software solutions analogous to Openchip's approach.
- Groq: Groq develops LPU (Language Processing Unit) inference accelerators for AI workloads targeting enterprise and government customers. It competes in the AI inference accelerator market with a focus on low-latency inference, overlapping with Openchip's AI accelerator ambitions.
- Graphcore: Graphcore (acquired by SoftBank) developed IPU (Intelligence Processing Unit) accelerators for AI workloads in enterprise and HPC markets. It represents a comparable AI accelerator peer targeting similar customers, illustrating the competitive challenges facing accelerator startups.
Emerging players
- Rivos: Rivos is a startup developing RISC-V-based server processors for AI and data analytics workloads. It targets similar enterprise and HPC markets with a focus on RISC-V server-class compute, representing a competitive threat in the broader space.
- Ventana Micro Systems: Ventana Micro Systems designs RISC-V-based application processors for cloud and data center workloads. It targets similar enterprise compute markets and represents a peer in the RISC-V chip design ecosystem focused on high-performance server-class processors.
Broad incumbents
- Nvidia: Nvidia is the dominant incumbent in AI accelerators with its GPU and HGX platforms, commanding the majority of the AI compute market. While Openchip competes at a much smaller scale, Nvidia represents the established competitor that Openchip's products must displace in design wins.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Openchip social profiles
Digital presenceOpenchip compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Openchip financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Openchip leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Openchip funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Openchip M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Openchip
What does Openchip do?
Openchip designs and develops in-house RISC-V-based high-performance accelerator chips and systems-on-chip (SoCs) for AI and HPC workloads, using a chiplet-based modular architecture. The company also provides a full-stack software platform including an AI operating system, inference software, and orchestration tools that bundle with the hardware for deployment across cloud, premise, and edge environments.
Is Openchip a public or private company?
Openchip is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Openchip founded?
Openchip was founded in 2021. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Openchip based?
Openchip is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in the Europe region.
How does Openchip make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. RISC-V Accelerator Hardware Sales are the primary driver. The others are full-Stack Software Platform Licensing and EU and Government-Funded R&D Grants.
Who are Openchip's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are SiFive, Esperanto Technologies, Tenstorrent, Cerebras Systems, SambaNova Systems, Groq and Graphcore. Emerging players are Rivos and Ventana Micro Systems. Nvidia is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Openchip have an API?
No public API is recorded for Openchip.
What industry is Openchip in?
Openchip's product category is RISC-V AI and HPC Semiconductor Accelerators. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAHAAAB, Advanced SoCs & Application Processors, with a secondary code of HDAAAAAB, AI Server Systems & HGX/Accelerator Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5415 and its SIC code is 7373.