A semiconductor startup has raised $14m in seed funding to develop a universal processor designed to support artificial intelligence in machines such as drones, robots, vehicles and industrial equipment.
Ubitium, founded in 2024 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, announced the funding round on 13 October 2026. The investment was led by Ibex Investors, with participation from OpenOcean, existing investors KBC Focus Fund, Runa Capital and Inflection, as well as Florian Seibel, co-founder and co-CEO of European defence technology company Quantum Systems.
The latest investment brings Ubitium’s total seed funding to $18m since its launch. The company plans to use the funding to develop its processor technology into a commercial product, following the successful demonstration of its first silicon.
Ubitium is developing a processor designed to combine three computing functions: signal processing, AI inference and real-time control. These tasks are typically handled by separate specialised chips, which can increase the complexity of developing and integrating autonomous systems.
The company’s architecture uses a reconfigurable array of programmable processing elements, allowing computing resources to be allocated across different workloads as required. Ubitium said the approach could reduce data transfers between chips, simplify software development and help manufacturers reduce the cost of building intelligent machines.
The technology is aimed at the growing physical AI market, which includes machines capable of processing information from their surroundings, making decisions and carrying out actions in the real world. According to a McKinsey base-case forecast cited by the company, the general-purpose robotics market could reach $370bn by 2040.
Hyun Shin Cho, CEO and co-founder of Ubitium, said: “Physical AI machines bring a whole new set of computing challenges, and the inference isn’t the hardest one. Sensing the real world and controlling the machine in it are just as hard, and today those still run on separate chips.
“We built one Physical AI processor that does all three, proved it in silicon in a year, and this funding turns it into a product.”
The company’s first processor, the UB108, contains 256 processing elements and was manufactured using Samsung’s 8nm process. Ubitium said the chip has demonstrated signal processing, AI inference and real-time control running on the same reconfigurable architecture.
The company plans to develop its first commercial processor, the UB410, which will contain 4,096 processing elements. Evaluation units are expected to be delivered in 2027, with initial customers developing radar and audio systems that combine high-resolution sensing with AI processing.
Autonomous systems, including drones, are also among the target applications for the technology.
Ubitium’s co-founder and chief technology officer, Martin Vorbach, has more than three decades of experience in reconfigurable computing. The company holds 17 granted patents covering its core technology, with further applications pending.
Florian Seibel said the processor could help autonomous machines operate within strict power and weight limits, particularly when communications are unavailable and systems must process information and make decisions on board.
The investment will support Ubitium as it moves from demonstrating its processor architecture towards commercial development, with the company aiming to provide manufacturers with a common computing platform for a range of physical AI applications.
