Taiwan’s Cathay Venture, the investment arm of billionaire Tsai Hong-tu’s Cathay Financial Holdings, has taken a decisive leap into Europe’s semiconductor scene by backing French AI chip startup SiPearl in a hefty $152 million (€130 million) Series A round.
This marks Cathay Venture’s first foray into France’s budding AI ecosystem—an investment that also sets a record as Europe’s largest Series A round in the fabless chip sector. The round attracted big names: Arm (owned by SoftBank), the European Innovation Council Fund, French Tech Souveraineté, and IT heavyweight Atos.
Key Takeaways:
- Taiwan’s Cathay Venture makes its first French AI investment.
- SiPearl secures Europe’s biggest Series A in fabless semiconductors.
- Funds will produce Rhea1—Europe’s most complex AI processor yet.
- Rhea1 will power Germany’s new Jupiter supercomputer.
Founded in 2019, SiPearl is on a mission to make Europe a serious contender in AI chip design. Its flagship product, the Rhea1 chip, is built on Arm’s architecture and tailored for demanding supercomputing and AI inference tasks. The startup proudly claims Rhea1 is the most sophisticated processor ever conceived in Europe—a bold statement that comes with equally bold plans.
SiPearl’s Rhea1 chip has already been handed off to Taiwanese manufacturing giant TSMC for production, with early samples expected next year. Once ready, the chip will be deployed at Germany’s Jupiter supercomputer, supporting critical research in fields like engineering, material sciences, and even dark matter exploration.
For Philippe Notton, SiPearl’s founder and CEO, this milestone is more than a technical feat—it’s a statement that Europe can hold its own against chipmaking titans in the US and Asia. With roots at STMicroelectronics and Taiwan’s MStar Semiconductor, Notton knows the value of bridging Europe’s design ambitions with Taiwan’s manufacturing prowess.
“We need strong, independent partners to compete globally,” he noted, underscoring Taiwan’s status as a semiconductor powerhouse.
From the investor’s side, Cathay Venture’s Stanley Yu called SiPearl a rare breed—one of the few companies tackling the twin challenges of computing power and energy efficiency in modern data centers. That aligns well with Cathay Venture’s focus: launched in 2003, the fund has more than a quarter of its portfolio in semiconductors and electronics.
Beyond SiPearl, Cathay Venture backs other promising players like US-based Rivos—cofounded by Intel heavyweight Lip-Bu Tan—and Taipei’s travel app KKDay. It also bet on OneDegree, a Hong Kong-based virtual insurance startup that made Forbes Asia’s 100 to Watch.
This latest move shows how Asia’s investors are hungry to expand their reach—and how Europe’s chip startups are seizing the moment to scale up and compete on a global stage.