TL;DR: Germany's SPRIND and the Netherlands' NADI launched a €40 million, 20-month AI-Native Chip Design Challenge on Sept. 23, 2026, to use AI to shorten chip design from years to weeks.

Joint launch announced Sept. 23

Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, SPRIND, and the Dutch National Agency for Disruptive Innovation, NADI, launched a joint programme on Sept. 23, 2026, committing €40 million to chip-design innovation, according to Tech.eu.

The programme, called the AI-Native Chip Design Challenge, is the first joint-funding initiative between SPRIND and NADI, according to Tech.eu.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said on Wednesday that the Dutch agency would work with its German counterpart to pursue breakthroughs in AI computer chip design, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

Jetten presented the cooperation as part of European efforts to curb reliance on U.S. expertise, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

What the €40 million challenge will fund

NADI and SPRIND will commit €40 million over 20 months to groups of small teams using AI to accelerate the design of chips for training and "inference," or running, AI models, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

The stated aim is to cut chip development timeframes from years to weeks and strengthen Europe's sovereign AI capabilities, according to Tech.eu.

The programme will also develop production-ready chip designs for high-performance AI inference and training, as well as AI applications, helping increase energy efficiency, improve scalability, and lower inference costs, according to Tech.eu.

SPRIND's head of challenges, Jano Costard, told Reuters the goal with chips was to achieve "several orders of magnitude acceleration" in a design process that currently takes years, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

How AI would change chip design

For the first time, AI models can draw technical conclusions, according to Tech.eu.

At the same time, reinforcement learning and AI agents can independently solve complex optimisation problems, allowing AI tools to eventually take on chip design autonomously, according to Tech.eu.

Demand for specialised solutions continues to grow amid a booming AI market, offering sizable economic opportunities, according to Tech.eu.

Europe currently depends on the U.S. and China to supply semiconductor chips, which underpin all three regions' AI capabilities, according to Tech.eu.

Two-stage competition over 20 months

AI-Native Chip Design will run in two stages over 20 months, with total funding of €40 million, with the majority funded by SPRIND and NADI funding the remainder, according to Tech.eu.

Stage 1, running from November to July 2027, will select seven teams, each receiving €2.6 million, according to Tech.eu.

Stage 2, running for a full year, will shortlist three teams, each receiving €7 million, according to Tech.eu.

Beyond funding, teams will also receive technical and commercial coaching to ensure their chip designs are market-ready, according to Tech.eu.

Exact financing details and Stage 1 dates will follow, according to Tech.eu.

Why chips were chosen first

NADI co-founder Jelle Prins said chips were a natural focus given the strong semiconductor ecosystem around Dutch equipment maker ASML and German research and manufacturing strengths, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

In its inaugural cooperative funding Challenge, NADI brings together the Netherlands' renowned chip expertise, leveraging a €33.6-billion semiconductor sector anchored by chip technology giants such as ASML, according to Tech.eu.

Prins said NVIDIA chips are powerful but inefficient for inference tasks, comparing them to "doing your shopping with a truck" rather than a grocery cart, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

Jetten said cross-border cooperation makes sense as Europe "cannot afford to innovate country by country" if it wants to compete, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

What NADI is and how it was created

The National Agency for Disruptive Innovation, or NADI, was launched this month with €500 million ($570 million) of government money as a Dutch equivalent of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

NADI, announced earlier this year, is in the process of formal establishment in the Netherlands, according to Tech.eu.

NADI is a major initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, modelled after SPRIND, ARPAs, and ARIA, according to Tech.eu.

SPRIND has been closely involved in NADI's formation process, according to Tech.eu.

Like SPRIND, NADI will deploy significant government funding to back radical, high-risk innovations across Europe with the potential for extreme positive benefits to societies and economies, according to Tech.eu.

DARPA model and European counterparts

Popularly known as DARPA, that U.S. agency was set up in 1958 in response to the Soviet Union's Sputnik launch and played a role in the technologies that led to the internet, stealth aircraft and GPS, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

In Europe, France established its defence innovation agency AID in 2018, Germany set up SPRIND in 2019 and Britain launched ARIA in 2023, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

SPRIND — which the 2024 Draghi Report identified as the optimal model for public innovation funding in Europe — serves as the nexus of a growing network of governmental agencies focused on transnational collaboration, according to Tech.eu.

Earlier this year, SPRIND launched its first Challenge, jointly run with Vinnova, Sweden's disruptive innovation agency, and has collaborative relationships with ARPAs and the U.S. National Science Foundation, according to Tech.eu.

Budgets, endorsements and next steps

SPRIND's Challenges model has committed more than €100 million in 2026 alone to funding high-risk scientific and technological breakthroughs across Europe, according to Tech.eu.

The agency is currently consulting with other major European economies on forming their own counterparts, also based on the SPRIND model, according to Tech.eu.

The influential Wennink Report, led by independent government advisor and former ASML CEO Peter Wennink, recommended a minimum commitment of €1.5-2 billion from the Dutch government for NADI's deployment budget, according to Tech.eu.

Jetten has thrown his weight behind NADI, one of the flagship projects of a competitiveness taskforce he set up after taking office in February, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.

Jano Costard, SPRIND's Head of Challenges, said the launch of NADI's first programme is a statement of Europe's intent to combine collaboration and innovation, according to Tech.eu.

Jelle Prins, co-founder of NADI, said NADI's mission is to catalyse breakthrough innovation in areas of significant societal and economic importance, according to Tech.eu.

Rob Jetten, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, said combining strengths across borders could turn European excellence into technological leadership, according to Tech.eu.

($1 = 0.8731 euros, according to Channel News Asia relaying Reuters reporting.)

Sources referenced