What ISOLDE does

ISOLDE is a European research consortium project operating under the Chips Joint Undertaking (Grant Agreement No. 101112274) within the Horizon Europe framework, with project duration from May 1, 2023 to October 31, 2026. The project, coordinated by Infineon Technologies AG with edacentrum GmbH handling project management, engages 37 partners plus 2 associated partners across 9 European countries. Its core objective is to develop high-performance open-source RISC-V-based CPUs and IP blocks to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7–8, with the explicit expectation that first components will be integrated into industrial-grade products roughly two years after project completion.

The technical portfolio spans four pillars: foundational IP cores (the CVA6 processor family, NOEL-V core support, multi-core infrastructure, caches, and NoCs); domain-specific accelerators covering AI/ML (tensor, vector via Ara/Spatz, systolic arrays, neuromorphic units), post-quantum and classical cryptography (CRYSTALS-Kyber/Dilithium, NTT), FFT/signal processing, and safety/security extensions (SafeSU, SafeTI, TCCP timing monitor, XNG hypervisor); a system software and tools stack; and four demonstrators targeting space, automotive, smart home, and cellular IoT. Supporting infrastructure includes the ISOLDE Virtual Repository for IP distribution and the Platform-Aware Flow (PAF) methodology, which delivers a 73% reduction in RTL code-generation effort. Outputs are primarily distributed as open-source, with customizable licensing terms available for industrial adoption via European-hosted repositories.

The business model is grant-funded rather than commercial: revenue derives from EU Horizon Europe / Chips Joint Undertaking funding co-financed by 9 member states. There are no product sales, no pricing tiers, and no commercial ARR; the enterprise value resides in the IP portfolio, the partner network, and the projected industrial-adoption phase post-2026. End-use segments are automotive (zone control, ADAS, powertrain), space/aerospace (onboard satellite autonomy, hyperspectral Earth observation, FDIR), IoT/smart home (energy management, edge sensing), and cellular IoT connectivity. Go-to-market is community-led, executed through academic publications, RISC-V Summit Europe participation, EFECS presence, joint workshops with sister RISC-V projects (TRISTAN, REBECCA, RIGOLETTO, Scale4Edge), and open-access dissemination via Zenodo, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Name

ISOLDE

Legal name

ISOLDE

Website

https://isolde-project.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Short description

ISOLDE is a Chips Joint Undertaking / Horizon Europe research consortium coordinated by Infineon, with 37+ partners across 9 European countries developing open-source high-performance RISC-V IP cores, accelerators, and demonstrators for automotive, space, and IoT industrial adoption.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

RISC-V Semiconductor IP

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Embedded Software & Firmware Tools (Compilers, Debug, RTOS tooling) (HDAHAFAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

Keywords

• RISC-V processor IP
• Open-source hardware
• Embedded computing IP
• Hardware accelerators
• Semiconductor IP cores

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Funding (EU Horizon Europe / Chips JU): ISOLDE is a publicly funded European research project (Grant Agreement No. 101112274) under the Chips Joint Undertaking. The project receives funding from the EU Horizon Europe research programme and national funding bodies including Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. As a research consortium, revenue is not generated from product sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ISOLDE develops open-source RISC-V-based processing systems, foundational IP cores, and domain-specific hardware accelerators for embedded computing applications. The project delivers AI/ML, cryptographic, signal processing, and safety/security accelerators along with tapeout-ready and FPGA-based demonstrator designs targeting automotive, space, IoT, and cellular IoT verticals.

Product overview

ISOLDE (High Performance, Safe, Secure, Open-Source Leveraged RISC-V Domain-Specific Ecosystems) is a Horizon Europe research project developing a comprehensive open-source RISC-V ecosystem for European digital sovereignty. The portfolio spans four layers: (1) Foundational IP Cores (WP2) delivering open-source RISC-V processors and infrastructure IPs including caches and NoCs; (2) Domain-Specific Accelerators (WP3) providing AI/ML, cryptography, vector, and signal processing accelerators; (3) System Software and Tools (WP4) including toolchains, compilers, and OS support; and (4) Four Demonstrators (WP5) targeting Space, Automotive, Smart Home, and Cellular IoT domains. Supporting infrastructure includes the ISOLDE Virtual Repository for IP distribution and the Platform-Aware Flow (PAF) methodology for RTL generation. Key IP components include the CVA6 processor family, Ara and Spatz vector accelerators, TAFFO approximate computing framework, TCCP safety monitoring co-processor, and FFT/NTT/SIMD accelerators.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Foundational IP Cores (WP2)
• Domain-Specific Accelerators (WP3)
• System Software, Development Tools and Automation (WP4)
• ISOLDE Space Demonstrator
• ISOLDE Automotive Demonstrator
• ISOLDE Smart Home Demonstrator
• ISOLDE Cellular IoT Demonstrator
• Platform-Aware Flow (PAF) RTL Generation
• ISOLDE Virtual Repository

Quantifiable outcome

• 73% reduction in code generation effort for industrial-grade designs using Platform-Aware RTL Generation Flow
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Infineon Technologies AGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Project Coordinator for ISOLDE. Responsible for overall project management and coordination. Contact: Holger Schmidt (ISOLDE Project Coordination). Provides Infineon AURIX TC4 microcontroller expertise for zone control unit platforms and high-performance computing architecture development.
• TRISTAN ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Sister project with complementary focus (TRISTAN targets smaller processors vs ISOLDE's high-performance processors). Joint initiatives include RISC-V Summit Europe participation, joint publications, shared IP distribution repository, and coordinated ecosystem development. Both projects are 3-year Horizon Europe initiatives under Chips JU.
• edacentrum GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 May 2023Project management partner responsible for administrative coordination, dissemination planning, and consortium organization. Contact: Dr. Andreas Vörg. Manages project meetings, reporting, and EU commission liaison.
• Politecnico di MilanocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Contributes approximate computing technologies (TAFFO framework), cryptographic accelerators, and efficiency enhancements for real-time computing. Develops seTHet and luTHet memory subsystem extensions. Hosts HEAP laboratory with 20 researchers.
• ETH ZürichcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Develops open-source vector units (Ara, Spatz), multi-precision floating-point units (cvfpu), and CVA6/Ariane processor core expertise. Founded member of RISC-V foundation with 50+ ASIC tapeouts using PULP-based open-source HW.
• Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Develops SafeSU statistics unit and SafeTI traffic injector for on-chip traffic monitoring and injection in safety-relevant SoCs. Components are released with open-source permissive licenses for RISC-V SoC safety development.
• OpenHW FoundationcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 May 2023ISOLDE contributes to and leverages OpenHW Group ecosystem including CVA6 processor, cvfpu, and X-interface standards. CEO Florian Wohlrab serves as RISC-V Ambassador. Joint work on RISC-V Summit Europe.
• NXP SemiconductorscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Contributes to MCU security extensions (Marcel Medwed presentation), vector accelerator development, and automotive domain applications. NXP Austria, Czech Republic, and Romania entities participate in consortium.
• Codasip s.r.o.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Contributes processor customization expertise for automotive applications. Develops custom compute solutions using Codasip Studio for PPA optimization, RTL generation with SystemVerilog, and automotive instruction accelerators with vector processing capabilities.
• Leonardo S.p.A.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Contributes to Space Demonstrator with €17.8bn revenue, 60,000+ employees, €2.5bn R&D investment. Provides aerospace expertise for satellite autonomy, Earth observation, and spacecraft computing applications.
• Thales Alenia Space ItaliacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Contributes space domain expertise to Space Demonstrator, working with E4 Computer Engineering on RISC-V SoC development for space applications including FPGA prototypes and tapeout-ready designs.
• FENTISScoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Develops XtratuM Next Generation (XNG) hypervisor adaptation for RISC-V standards, providing safety-critical isolation for space and automotive applications. Qualified for ECSS Level B space certification.
• E4 Computer EngineeringcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Leads Space Demonstrator development including requirements definition, FPGA implementation, test methodology development, and V&V methodology development for RISC-V SoC validation in space environments.
• OFFIScoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Develops Time Contract Co-Processor (TCCP) for runtime monitoring of timing and behavioral properties in safety-critical applications. Provides contract-based design approach with cycle-accurate temporal resolution.
• REBECCA, RIGOLETTO, Scale4EdgeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023Related RISC-V ecosystem projects with joint workshop collaboration to identify synergies and coordinate development efforts across European initiatives.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Arm: Dominant proprietary CPU IP incumbent that ISOLDE explicitly aims to displace in safety-critical European applications. Comparable as a foundational embedded processor IP provider with vastly greater resources.
• MIPS: Legacy processor IP vendor now repositioning around RISC-V for embedded and automotive markets. Comparable as a broad-scope CPU IP competitor targeting similar industrial verticals.
• Imagination Technologies: Established processor IP vendor offering RISC-V alongside GPU and AI IP. Comparable as a broad IP portfolio player targeting embedded and edge markets, with deeper commercial channels than ISOLDE.

Emerging players

• Rivos: Well-funded RISC-V server and high-performance processor startup. Comparable as a RISC-V performance-tier competitor, though targeting data center rather than ISOLDE's embedded focus.
• Tenstorrent: RISC-V-based AI accelerator and processor company with strong commercial funding. Comparable for AI/ML accelerator IP ambitions overlapping with ISOLDE's tensor and vector accelerators.
• Ventana Micro Systems: RISC-V core developer targeting data center and high-performance edge applications. Overlaps with ISOLDE's high-performance computing ambition and AI accelerator roadmap, but with venture-funded commercial execution.

Direct peers

• OpenHW Group: Open-source RISC-V hardware ecosystem organization hosting CVA6 and related cores. ISOLDE contributes to and leverages this ecosystem; both share the open-source RISC-V IP distribution mission.
• SiFive: Leading commercial supplier of RISC-V processor IP cores and development tooling for embedded applications. Directly comparable to ISOLDE's foundational core and accelerator roadmap, but operates as a venture-backed commercial entity with faster iteration cycles.
• Andes Technology: Commercial RISC-V processor IP vendor with broad automotive and IoT customer base. Directly competes with ISOLDE in high-performance embedded RISC-V cores and has established commercial silicon adoption.
• Codasip: RISC-V processor customization IP provider with automotive-grade design tools and Studio EDA tooling. Also an ISOLDE consortium partner; commercially focused whereas ISOLDE is grant-funded.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCPVYGFbUdADNENWvV3_hObg
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/isolde-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ISOLDE