歐洲晶片新創 Axelera 取得 AI 工廠供應合約，並推出第二款晶片

托比・斯特林報導By Toby Sterling

阿姆斯特丹，9 月 15 日（路透社）——荷蘭晶片製造新創 Axelera AI 週二表示，該公司已簽署多份向 AI 工廠供應晶片的合約；同時也推出第二代晶片「Europa」，可用於指定的戴爾（Dell）與美超微（Supermicro）產品。AMSTERDAM, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Dutch chipmaking startup Axelera AI has signed multiple contracts to supply chips to AI factories, it said on Tuesday as it launched "Europa", its second generation of chips, which can be used in specified Dell and Supermicro products.

AI 工廠是專門用於訓練與運行人工智慧軟體的資料中心或科學運算中心。An AI factory is a data centre or scientific computing centre devoted to training and running artificial intelligence software.

執行長法布里齊奧・德爾馬菲奧（Fabrizio Del Maffeo）在與路透社通電話時拒絕透露精確細節，但表示該公司目前已有逾 600 名客戶使用 Axelera 的晶片，應用範圍涵蓋安全、國防、AI 工廠以及企業環境。CEO Fabrizio Del Maffeo in a phone call with Reuters declined to give precise details, but said the company now has more than 600 customers using Axelera's chips for applications in security, defence, in AI factories and in enterprise settings.

他說：「我們已簽下價值數千萬美元的交易。」"We have signed deals worth tens of millions," he said.

他表示，該公司正爭取 15 億美元的潛在銷售額，不過這個數字並不代表訂單或營收。He said the company is pursuing $1.5 billion in potential sales, though that figure does not represent orders or revenue.

非上市公司 Axelera 自 2021 年在艾恩德霍芬成立以來，已募得超過 4.5 億美元。Privately-held Axelera has raised more than $450 million since it was founded in Eindhoven in 2021.

歐盟正改造既有的超級運算中心網絡，將其升級為 AI 工廠，試圖縮小與美國和中國的差距，並確保本地企業與科學家能取得 AI 運算能力。The European Union is revamping its existing network of supercomputing centres into AI factories to try to narrow the gap with the U.S. and China and ensure local firms and scientists have access to AI computing power.

該公司表示，Axelera 正與戴爾及系統整合商 E4 合作，是義大利歐盟支持的 IT4LIA 計畫、盧森堡歐盟支持的 MeluXina 計畫等項目的供應商之一。Axelera is working with Dell and systems integrator E4 as one of the suppliers of the EU-backed IT4LIA project in Italy and the EU-backed MeluXina project in Luxembourg, among others, the company said.

Axelera 是進軍 AI 推論市場的歐洲晶片新創之一；所謂 AI 推論，指的是用來運行 AI 模型、而非訓練模型的晶片。該公司的第一代 Metis 晶片鎖定現場使用的「邊緣應用」，例如在工廠分析安全資料。Axelera is among the European chip startups attacking the AI inference market, meaning chips that are used to run, not train, AI models. Its first generation of Metis chips was aimed at "edge applications" used on site, for instance analysing security data at a factory.

Europa 則是為較繁重的工作設計，例如在企業伺服器上運行；未來的「Titania」小晶片架構將鎖定資料中心與超級電腦用途。Europa is designed for heavier jobs, for instance on corporate servers, while a future "Titania" chiplet architecture will target use in data centres and supercomputers.

歐洲同業與競爭對手包括法國的 VSORA、英國的 Fractile、西班牙的 Semidynamics，以及荷蘭的 Euclyd。Euclyd 週二另行宣布完成 2 億歐元（2.308 億美元）募資。European peers and rivals include France's VSORA, Britain's Fractile, Spain's Semidynamics and the Netherlands' Euclyd. Euclyd separately announced a €200 million ($230.80 million) funding round on Tuesday.

（1 美元 = 0.8666 歐元）($1 = 0.8666 euros)

（托比・斯特林報導；芭芭拉・路易斯編輯）(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Barbara Lewis)