SiPearl and the EIC Accelerator: Europe's Supercomputer Processor

SiPearl pitches its chips as energy-efficient processors for "sovereign supercomputing" in Europe. SiPearl, a company set up in 2019 in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris out of the EU-funded European Processor Initiative, designs Rhea1, a high-performance, low-power processor for supercomputing, with 61 billion transistors made by TSMC in 6 nm.

Its EIC Accelerator award combined a €2,500,000 grant for the HELIOS project with €15 million of equity, the EIC Fund's first direct investment. In July 2025 SiPearl closed a €130 million Series A, and on 22 September 2026 it delivered its first Rhea1 processors to Bull for the JUPITER supercomputer. The HELIOS grant project ends on 30 September 2026, too early to judge on CORDIS.

Where SiPearl Stands Today

In September 2026 SiPearl delivered its first Rhea1 processors to Bull, part of Eviden, for JUPITER, calling it "a major milestone towards European first supercomputer CPU cluster", and a few days later announced the delivery of a first "Seine" server in the OpenCUBE project. In November 2025 it was selected to supply processors for Alice Recoque, the French exascale supercomputer being built by Eviden. Its news pages in 2026 show a steady run of trade fairs and consortium memberships.

The Technology: A European Server Processor

Rhea1 is designed for high-performance computing and, SiPearl says, for AI inference at low power. It was taped out, meaning the design was sent to manufacture, at the time of the July 2025 Series A. The HELIOS project, according to CORDIS, develops the "next generation HELIOS platform architecture that supports the new European Chips Act by reducing the cost and time of new chip designs".

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

HELIOS runs from July 2022 to 30 September 2026 with a budget of €3.58 million, of which the EU pays €2.5 million. CORDIS lists it as ongoing and publishes the objective but no results yet. The equity side of the award matters more in size: €15 million from the EIC Fund in June 2022, followed by the Fund's participation in the Series A.

1. Rhea1 manufacturedDeliveredTaped out 2025; first chips 2026.
2. A lead customerDeliveredDelivered to Bull for JUPITER.
3. Private follow-on capitalDelivered€130M Series A.
4. HELIOS platform resultsToo earlyProject ends 30 September 2026.

What Has Happened Since the Award

The Money

SiPearl started with €6.2 million of European funding, then received the €17.5 million EIC award and the €130 million Series A, whose investors include Cathay Venture, the EIC Fund, France 2030 and Arm. The only accounts in the French register data we could access are for 2021: no revenue and a net loss of €10.1 million.

Why Europe Should Care

SiPearl grew out of the EU-funded European Processor Initiative, and EU money has backed it at every stage, from its launch to the EIC Fund's first investment. Its first chips going into JUPITER is the payoff that policy was aiming for. Whether Rhea1 can compete on performance and price beyond publicly funded supercomputers is the next question.

The Verdict

SiPearl has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU project data and the French company register, linked throughout.