- New deep-tech semiconductor startup tackling AI’s Compute Memory Bottleneck
- Vertical Compute, a groundbreaking European deep-tech semiconductor startup, has announced the successful closure of a €20 million seed investment round.
- The company aims to revolutionize the future of computing by solving the critical “memory wall” bottleneck, delivering major advancements for the tech industry and enabling highly tangible applications for consumers in the near future.
- The funding round, led by imec.xpand and supported by Eurazeo, XAnge, Vector Gestion, and imec, will propel the development of a vertically integrated memory and compute technology that unlocks unprecedented potential for AI applications.
Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium), 14 Jan 2025 – Vertical Compute (www.verticalcompute.com), founded by CEO Sylvain Dubois (ex-Google) and CTO Sebastien Couet (ex-imec), today announced that it successfully closed a seed investment round of €20 million. The round was led by imec.xpand and supported by a strong investor base including Eurazeo, XAnge, Vector Gestion and imec. The funding will support Vertical Compute’s ambition to develop a novel vertical integrated memory and compute technology, unlocking a new generation of AI applications.
Unlocking the Future of AI with Verticality
Vertical Compute’s technology will have a transformative impact, enabling next-generation applications with unparalleled efficiency and privacy. By minimizing data movement and bringing large data closer to computation, the innovation ensures energy savings of up to 80%, unlocks hyper-personalized AI solutions, and eliminates the need for remote data transfers, protecting user privacy.
“Memory technologies face limitations in both density and performance scaling, while processor performance continues to surge. The extreme data access requirements of AI workloads exacerbate this challenge, making it imperative to overcome the memory wall to enable the next wave of AI innovations. We believe going Vertical is the path to 100X gains”, says Sébastien Couet, CTO of Vertical Compute.
Tackling the Memory Wall
The rapid advancements in large language models and generative AI are transforming virtually all industries at an unprecedented pace. However, these large-scale AI models still heavily rely on complex cloud infrastructure and high bandwidth memories, leading to data transfer latency, high energy consumption and sending sensitive data to distant servers. Edge computing can address these issues, but inferencing large AI models on smartphones, PCs or smart home devices faces significant cost, power and scalability constraints.
The big underlying problem is the ‘memory wall’. Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), integrated as caches of the CPU or GPU, is fast but very small and expensive. Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM), the main memory of compute systems, is larger but expensive and energy-consuming. The scaling of both memory technologies in density and performance is slowing down while processor speeds and market needs keep increasing, causing a significant bottleneck. This problem is rapidly escalating due to the surging demand for AI workloads, requiring vast amounts of data to be accessed quickly. Overcoming this memory wall is crucial for advancing AI inference.
Innovating with Vertical Compute’s Chiplet Technology
The convergence of large-scale AI models and edge computing calls for a transformative shift in the way data is processed. Vertical Compute will capture this opportunity by developing chiplet-based solutions leveraging a new way to store bits in a high aspect ratio vertical structure. The concept behind Vertical Compute’s core patented technology has been invented by Sebastien Couet, imec’s former Magnetic Program Director. The core innovation resides in the integration of vertical data lanes on top of computation units. It has the potential to outperform DRAM in terms of density, cost and energy, by reducing data movements from centimeters to nanometers. This promising technology, coupled with an ambitious commercialization plan, has led to the creation of this new semiconductor venture.
"The surge in data-intensive applications like generative AI demands a drastic new approach to transferring data between computing cores and memory units. Our solution is designed to overcome the fundamental scaling limitations of memory technologies by going vertical. We are committed to unlocking the full potential of large language models on the edge without any compromise”, says Sylvain Dubois, CEO of Vertical Compute.
Driving Recruitment and Growth
Vertical Compute is headquartered in Louvain-La-Neuve (BE), with its main R&D offices in Leuven (BE), Grenoble (FR) and Nice (FR). The company is recruiting an elite team of engineers to support its ambitious R&D goals and accelerate the development and commercialization of its chiplet-based technology.
“We want to recruit the very best from all over Europe, and finally put Europe at the forefront in terms of tech”, adds Sylvain Dubois.
"This seed investment round highlights the confidence in the leadership team's capabilities and the disruptive potential of this game-changing technology. We could not be more excited to collaborate with Sylvain, Sebastien and their team and to help them to achieve their ambitious goals”, says Tom Vanhoutte from imec.xpand.
"We are confident that, with the ongoing support of our teams and ecosystem, Vertical Compute can become a disruptor in the semiconductor industry. The strong international investor base shows that we are not alone in this belief”, says Patrick Vandenameele, co-Chief Operating Officer at imec.
About Sylvain Dubois and Sebastien Couet
Sylvain Dubois is a business executive with a strong experience in the deep tech ecosystem. He's been working in the compute and memory fields for 25 years. He knew the memory bottleneck problem well and investigated it when he worked for Google.
Sebastien Couet is a semiconductor R&D expert who has been working for 10 years + at imec - the world-leading R&D and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies - to understand the memory roadmap and develop innovative solutions for the next decade.
About Vertical Compute
Vertical Compute (www.verticalcompute.com) is a European deep tech startup focused on developing a game-changing vertically integrated memory technology. Founded in 2024, the company aims to solve the memory bottleneck and to unlock the full potential of data-intensive applications. With a strong leadership team and a clear vision, Vertical Compute is set to revolutionize the future of computing.
About imec
Imec is a world-leading research and innovation center in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Imec leverages its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and its team of more than 5,500 employees and top researchers, for R&D in advanced semiconductor and system scaling, silicon photonics, artificial intelligence, beyond 5G communications and sensing technologies, and in application domains such as health and life sciences, mobility, industry 4.0, agrofood, smart cities, sustainable energy, education, … Imec unites world-industry leaders across the semiconductor value chain, Flanders-based and international tech, pharma, medical and ICT companies, start-ups, and academia and knowledge centers. Imec is headquartered in Leuven (Belgium), and has research sites across Belgium, in the Netherlands, the UK and the USA, and representation in 3 continents. In 2023, imec's revenue (P&L) totaled 941 million euro. Further information on imec can be found at www.imec-int.com.
About imec.xpand
Imec.xpand is one of the world’s largest independent venture capitalist dedicated to early-stage semiconductor innovation. The imec.xpand funds target ambitious deep tech startups where the knowledge, expertise and infrastructure of imec, the world-renowned semiconductor and nanotechnology R&D center, can play a determining role in their growth. Imec.xpand has an outspoken international mindset towards building disruptive global companies and strongly believes that sufficient funding from the start is key to future success. The team’s unique ability to assess technology risk in the earliest stages of development enables imec.xpand’s game-changing approach towards hardware driven semiconductor innovation. https://imecxpand.com.
About Eurazeo
Eurazeo is a leading European investment group with €35.5 billion in diversified assets under management, including €25.2 billion on behalf of institutional and retail clients through its private equity, private debt, real estate and infrastructure strategies. The Group supports more than 600 mid-market companies, leveraging the commitment of its 400-strong workforce, its in-depth sector expertise, its privileged access to global markets through 13 offices across Europe, Asia and the United States, and its responsible approach to value creation based on growth. The company's institutional and family shareholding structure, and its solid financial structure, ensure its long-term viability.
For more information, visit www.eurazeo.com
About XAnge
XAnge is an early-stage investment fund with €650 million under management, based in Paris and Berlin. Its investment team supports European entrepreneurs who aim to transform everyday life through technology, investing amounts ranging from €500,000 to €10 million starting at the seed stage. With an investment thesis focused on making technology accessible to the widest audience, XAnge invests in sectors such as deeptech, healthcare, fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce. XAnge has supported companies like Lydia (Finance), Welcome to the Jungle (Human Resources), Believe (Music), MrSpex (eCommerce), and Ledger (Cryptocurrency). XAnge is the innovation brand of the Siparex Group.
For more information, visit www.xange.vc
