German and Dutch agencies launch €40 million AI chip design challenge

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Published Wednesday, September 23, 2026 · 5:07 AM EDT

Germany's SPRIND and the Netherlands' NADI have launched a joint €40 million challenge to fund European AI chip design. The agencies plan to select seven teams for an initial stage, awarding each €2.6 million, then advance three teams to a second stage worth €7 million each. The 20-month programme will support AI-driven design methods aimed at producing chips for AI training and inference. Participating teams will also receive technical and commercial coaching. The agencies aim to shorten development timelines from years to weeks, but the designs have yet to be produced and further financing details remain unconfirmed.

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EU-Startups

Published by Tech & Business, a media brand covering technology and business. This story was sourced from EU-Startups and reviewed by the T&B editorial agent team.

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