Samsung backs Euclyd's $231 million round as AI-chip shipments target 2028

Samsung has joined investors backing Euclyd, a Netherlands-based chip designer seeking to challenge Nvidia's dominance in artificial intelligence hardware. The company closed a $231 million funding round, while its Series A totaled €200 million.

Founded in 2024, Euclyd is developing a chip system with a different architecture from conventional graphics processors, covering both processor and memory layers. Chief Executive Bernardo Kastrup told CNBC that commercial hardware will not reach customers until 2028.

Euclyd plans two business lines: selling physical hardware and rack systems to enterprises that want to run AI inference securely on-site, and licensing its underlying intellectual property to companies that want to build chips using Euclyd's designs. Kastrup said Samsung can contribute engineering, systems expertise, memory manufacturing and supply-chain knowledge in addition to funding.

The startup expects to begin shipping chips in two years and aims to serve thousands of enterprise customers by 2030. Its systems have not yet been proven at meaningful commercial scale, so their real-world performance remains uncertain.

OpenAI, Google, Amazon Web Services and Meta are also developing AI chips or related systems. OpenAI said in August that its first in-house AI chip, Jalapeño, delivered industry-leading speed and efficiency. Whether Euclyd can dent Nvidia's position remains uncertain.