- Athena1 targets government, defense and aerospace with security-focused dual-use processor designs
- SiPearl develops sovereign European CPU but faces global competition at 2027 release
- Europe pushes for processor sovereignty while relying on TSMC manufacturing
French chip designer SiPearl has announced Athena1, a processor designed for both government and defense applications, as well as aerospace use cases.
The CPU is described as a bespoke version of Rhea1, the company’s first-generation processor, but with features specifically tailored to sensitive workloads such as cryptography, secure communications, tactical networks and intelligence processing.
The Athena1 line will be available in configurations offering 16, 32, 48, 64 or 80 Arm Neoverse V1 cores, with the choice depending on performance needs and thermal requirements.
Asserting Europe’s strategic independence
Manufacturing of the chip die will be handled by TSMC, with packaging initially taking place in Taiwan, before moving to Europe at a later phase to encourage a domestic supply chain.
SiPearl says Athena1 is intended to address “dual-use” demands, where processors serve both civil and defense purposes.
That includes applications ranging from electronic detection to local data processing onboard vehicles.
Athena1 is scheduled for commercial release in the second half of 2027, with more technical details announced closer to launch.
“In an era of geopolitical uncertainty, with cybersecurity issues and armed conflicts on the rise, Europe’s technological sovereignty is more and more inseparable from sovereign hardware, whether for civil applications or, more importantly, defense,” said Philippe Notton, CEO and founder of SiPearl.
“It was therefore natural for SiPearl to capitalize on the expertise developed by its R&D teams in HPC to develop a new version of our first processor that perfectly meets the needs of dual-use purposes. As part of the roadmap entrusted to us by Europe to foster the return of high-performance processor technologies to the continent, Athena1 is the perfect complement to Rhea1 in helping to assert Europe’s strategic independence,” he added.
The launch is part of Europe’s growing push for independence in semiconductors and follows European startup Euclyd’s freshly announced CRAFTWERK SiP that claims bandwidth levels far beyond Nvidia’s designs.
Whether Athena1 can compete with US or Asian rivals when it debuts remains to be seen.
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