Spain's SETT backs Openchip with €115.8M to build Europe's chip autonomy
What's the deal? Spain's Sociedad Española para la Transformación Tecnológica (SETT) has approved more than €135 million in investments in two domestic deep-tech firms, Openchip and Substrate AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The bulk — €115.77 million — goes to Openchip, a Barcelona microelectronics company designing high-performance, energy-efficient chips for artificial intelligence and supercomputing.
A further €19.1 million flows to Madrid-based Substrate AI as part of a wider €39 million capital raise alongside private investors.
Why now? Both deals run through the Next Tech facility, funded by Spain's Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
The push reflects Europe's drive for strategic autonomy in semiconductors and sovereign AI, areas where the bloc has long depended on foreign suppliers.
Founded in 2021 by engineering group GTDDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and the Barcelona Supercomputing CenterDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Openchip now employs around 300 people. Its processors use the open-source RISC-V architecture and run a fabless model, outsourcing manufacturing to specialised foundries.
What could go wrong? Designing competitive chips is capital-intensive and slow, and Openchip faces entrenched rivals with far deeper pockets.
Substrate AI, which serves more than 500 clients across health, industry, and technology, must also prove its agent software can move from pilots to production at scale.
The signal: Now at breakout stage, Openchip's full-stack RISC-V accelerators for AI and high-performance computing position it as one of Europe's clearest bets on open-architecture silicon. The state-backed cheque underscores how governments — not just private capital — are increasingly the ones funding deep-tech firms deemed strategically critical.
Read more: Forbes España
Image credit: JamesIrwin
