European AI company to produce chips in Ghent
European AI company Openchip will open a branch in the Winter Circus in Ghent. The company, which focuses on the development of sustainable and secure AI chips, will work with research centre imec.
Openchip was founded only 10 months ago but has already grown to 120 employees, with offices in Barcelona, Rome and Gdańsk. Its aim is to develop its own European chips and AI software. The chips should be as energy-efficient and secure as possible.
If successful, Openchip will be the first company to produce European chips for AI models such as ChatGPT. In this way, Europe will be able to reduce its dependence on third countries and compete with US and Chinese products.
Technology centre
OpenChip's branch in Ghent will not work on the chip directly. Instead, it will work on AI software that will be necessary once the chip launches. The company will be based in the Winter Circus, a former 19th-century stone circus that has been converted into a technology centre in the heart of the city.
Steven Latré will be Chief AI & Software Systems Officer at OpenChip. "In a matter of months, the Winter Circus has become the place to be for software innovation. Not to be here was simply not an option for me," he told Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday.
"The Winter Circus has become the place to be for software innovation. Not to be here was simply not an option for me"
Latré is currently vice president AI & Algorithms at imec, a renowned research institute for nanoelectronics. "Belgium offers an ideal environment due to the presence of research institutes such as imec," says Openchip CEO Cesc Guim.
The company hopes to have its first chip ready by early 2027.
#FlandersNewsService | An employee in the chip manufacturing process at a clean room of the Barcelona Institute for Microelectronics © PHOTO JOSEP LAGO / AFP
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