FMC Raises €100M And Introduces New Memory Chips For The AI Era

The €77 million in equity stems from FMC’s oversubscribed Series C funding round, supported by both long-standing backers and new investors, and stands among the largest raises of its kind in the semiconductor sector.

A further €23 million has been secured through public funding, including contributions from the IPCEI ME/CT program and the European Innovation Council (EIC).

Memory chips have become a strategically vital technology, currently dominated by South Korea, the US, and Taiwan with China rapidly closing the gap.

Until now, Europe has had little presence in this crucial semiconductor segment. With FMC, a credible contender is emerging in Silicon Saxony, aiming to close this strategic gap from within Europe.

Leveraging the thin-film material hafnium oxide, the company has developed a new class of memory cells with its DRAM+ chip more sustainable, faster, and more cost-efficient. Its exceptionally low power consumption significantly reduces the energy needs of AI data centres, laying the groundwork for their scale-up in Europe and globally.

Read Also - Acurast Raises $11M to Redefine Computing With A Smartphone-Driven Network

According to Thomas Rückes, CEO of FMC, the company is now developing the next generation of memory chips and system solutions that are not only more sustainable and energy-efficient, but also faster and more affordable than today’s industry standards:

“While bandwidth has so far been the dominant metric of AI compute, energy efficiency is now becoming the key factor for the next generation of AI. “

Rückes asserts that memory chips are the main bottleneck in the AI stack.

“FMC's DRAM+ and 3D CACHE+ technology addresses precisely this issue: Faster and more energy efficient than established products.

This lays the foundation for scaling up AI data centres and AI edge applications. Securing an equity financing of this magnitude emphasises the significance of our technology, and we are grateful to have earned the trust of leading deep-tech investors for our vision."

The equity round is led by HV Capital and the DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), together with Vsquared Ventures. Returning backers include eCAPITAL, Bosch Ventures, Air Liquide Venture Capital, M Ventures (Merck), and Verve Ventures.

Fabian Gruner, Partner at HV Capital, said: "FMC's highly innovative memory chip technology is unique and has the potential to redefine global industry standards. We are proud to back its commercialisation through our commitment."

Even with planned expansions in energy capacity, AI data centres are expected to consume a substantial share of global electricity production in the years ahead.

FMC’s innovative persistent DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ memory technologies and systems can drastically cut this energy demand by minimising and optimising data transfers between compute hierarchies transfers that currently account for a large portion of total energy use thereby boosting overall compute efficiency.

By replacing conventional memory, FMC’s technologies have the potential to more than double system efficiency for high-performance databases and significantly increase processing speeds for energy-efficient AI applications.

This improvement is made possible because persistent DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ replace volatile memory, eliminating the need for time-consuming data transfers between fast, volatile storage and slower, non-volatile storage tiers.

FMC is bringing its DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ designs and products to market in partnership with leading DRAM manufacturers and advanced logic foundries, leveraging high-volume 300mm production fabs worldwide to deliver energy-efficient solutions for targeted customer applications in the near future.

The company’s technology also holds disruptive potential to achieve higher memory densities than conventional memory architectures.

The new funding will accelerate the commercialisation of FMC’s DRAM+ and 3D-CACHE+ memory chips and system solutions, while also supporting the expansion of its global footprint.

About Ferroelectric Memory Company

The Ferroelectric Memory Company is solving a major hardware problem in today’s IoT world. As chip designers look for better embedded memory to keep up with Moore’s law, FMC provides a modern cost-effective alternative to old technologies like eFlash, helping make IoT devices more efficient and scalable.