Dutch AI chipmaker Euclyd has secured backing from Samsung in a $231 million funding round, amid a boom in venture funding in alternatives to Nvidia’s dominance in graphics processing units (GPUs), according to a CNBC report.
The 200-million-euro Series A round was co-led by Samsung, Somerset Capital Partners, Innovation Industries, and the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund, CEO Bernardo Kastrup told CNBC.
Launched in 2024, Euclyd is developing specialised chip systems for AI inference, featuring an alternative processor and memory architecture distinct from traditional graphics processing units.
Nvidia dominance & emerging change
Nvidia rose to become the world’s most valuable company after its GPUs, originally designed for gaming, were repurposed for AI training and inference.
While it holds a near-monopoly on high-end silicon, tech hyperscalers and startups are now developing their own processors to handle AI workloads.
The tech industry is, however, now moving to develop its own AI chip alternatives.
In August, OpenAI announced that its first AI chip, the Jalapeño, had “industry-leading speed and efficiency.” Google, AWS, and Meta are all pursuing the same goal.
Euclyd AI infra
Kastrup noted that AI's potential will remain constrained if its infrastructure is not fundamentally changed.
“AI is becoming a foundation of economic growth, scientific discovery and national competitiveness, but its potential will remain constrained unless we fundamentally change the infrastructure beneath it,” Kastrup told CNBC.
Euclyd’s systems have yet to be tested at a commercial scale, but the company says its chips will reduce the surging energy needs and costs of AI data centres.
Moving forward, it is targeting two revenue channels: selling server racks to enterprises for secure on-premises inference and licensing its chip designs to companies developing custom silicon.
“Samsung can help us in more ways than money,” said Kastrup, noting that the phone company is one of the biggest memory manufacturers in the world. “They do a lot of engineering, they know a lot about systems, they know the supply chain, they have a huge network.”
Euclyd aims to begin rolling out its physical chip systems in 2028, with thousands of enterprise customers being served by 2030, Kastrup told CNBC.
