NADI and SPRIND launch €40M challenge for energy-efficient AI chips

The Dutch National Agency for Disruptive Innovation (NADI) and Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND) have launched the ‘AI-Native Chip Design Challenge.’ The initiative provides €40 million to develop energy-efficient AI chips and radical innovations in pan-European chip design processes.

The program aims to reduce chip development timelines from years to weeks, strengthening Europe’s sovereign AI capabilities in sectors such as biotechnology, robotics, mobility, and data security. The challenge will run for twenty months in two phases. In the first eight-month phase, seven teams will receive up to €2.6 million each. Three teams will then advance to a twelve-month second phase, with access to up to €7 million each.

This collaboration addresses Europe’s high energy consumption in AI models and its reliance on chip imports from the United States and Asia. While the Netherlands maintains strength in chip manufacturing through companies like ASML, there is a noted lack of European-designed chips compatible with such machinery. NADI is being established as a Dutch engine for disruptive innovation, modeled after agencies like the US DARPA and the UK’s ARIA.