The company said the tape-out took place in December 2025 and is the first hardware implementation of Ubitium’s universal processor architecture, designed to replace the many specialised processors used in today’s embedded systems.

Embedded computing has grown into a market valued at about $115 billion. But the systems that rely on it have become highly complex. Vehicles are good examples. 

Early models relied on a single processor, but modern cars can contain more than 200 processors, each tied to its own software stack, tools and supplier.

That level of complexity is spreading beyond cars. Robots, drones and industrial machines now run artificial intelligence workloads at the edge. As a result, managing multiple processors and development environments has become a growing challenge for system designers.

Ubitium says its architecture tackles this problem by combining several computing functions into one processor. The design builds on the open-source RISC‑V instruction set architecture, which already powers billions of chips worldwide.

However, the company has expanded the concept beyond a traditional central processing unit. Its universal processor can run Linux and real-time operating systems at the same time. It also handles signal processing tasks such as radar and audio in real time, while executing neural networks for AI inference at the edge. All of this happens on a single chip without separate accelerators or co-processors.

According to Ubitium, the universal processor is fully compatible with existing RISC-V software.

“This tape-out turns a long-held thesis into silicon,” said Martin Vorbach, chief technology officer at Ubitium. “Embedded workloads have outgrown the architectures the industry relies on today. Consolidation isn’t optional anymore. It’s inevitable.”

Ubitium compares its approach to the transition that occurred in wireless technology when software-defined radio replaced fixed-function hardware. In using one programmable processor instead of many specialised chips, the company believes manufacturers can simplify system design, shorten development time and extend product lifecycles.

Several technology partners worked with the startup on the project. These include Samsung Foundry, Siemens Digital Industries Software and ADTechnology.

“The shift toward software-defined, reconfigurable compute is accelerating. Ubitium’s approach, one universal processor replacing multiple specialised chips, aligns with where we see embedded systems heading. We’re proud to manufacture their first silicon.” Said Taejoong Song, vice president and head of Foundry Technology Planning Team at Samsung Electronics.

Jean‑Marie Brunet, senior vice president for hardware-assisted verification at Siemens Digital Industries Software, said early validation tools played a role in the project.

“Shift-left verification helps teams validate system behaviour earlier by running more realistic workloads ahead of first silicon,” he said. “Ubitium’s use of Siemens’ EDA tools, specifically the Veloce CS hardware-assisted verification and validation system, highlights how early validation can de-risk integration, support design closure, and accelerate time to first silicon.”

At the manufacturing stage, backend design support came from ADTechnology.

“Advanced-node silicon delivery depends on disciplined back-end execution across timing, power, and signoff,” said Jun-Kyu Park, chief executive officer of ADTechnology. “We are pleased to have supported Ubitium throughout the implementation process as it progressed to tape-out on Samsung Foundry’s 8nm process.”

The chip validates several core parts of Ubitium’s architecture, including its Universal Processing Array and an LPDDR5 memory interface. The array allows the processor to shift execution modes at runtime, switching between CPU, digital signal processing, graphics processing and parallel acceleration tasks without needing separate hardware blocks.

The company said the design supports general computing, real-time signal processing and parallel AI inference within a single, homogeneous architecture. It also runs standard RISC-V toolchains and modern software frameworks without requiring proprietary languages or compilers.

Ubitium plans a second tape-out later in 2026 as development continues. Volume production of the processor is currently targeted for 2027.

The company says potential applications include radar systems, multi-sensor processing, voice and audio workloads, computer vision, automotive cockpit platforms and industrial human-machine interfaces.

The startup’s debut product, Chipmind Agents, is aimed at automating the repetitive, low-level work that ties up engineering teams and drags out design cycles.

Chipmind describes its agents as a new class of tools that work from a customer’s own, proprietary design data.

The agents are built to slot into existing engineering flows, learn a company’s toolchain and design hierarchy, and then carry out multi-step design and verification tasks autonomously, all while leaving final control with the human engineer. The company claims engineers can save roughly 40% of their time on routine chores.

The problem Chipmind targets is familiar to anyone who has worked in chip design: massive, customised EDA flows that simply were not built to talk to modern automation. Chipmind’s founders say they didn’t try to rip out those legacy systems.

Instead, they built a platform that prepares them for agentic automation and wraps intelligence around the existing stack.

“In the semiconductor industry, deep customisation and data protection are fundamental, but true design awareness is what separates a generic tool from an intelligent partner. Each company’s chip is a complex hierarchy with unique constraints, surrounded by a proprietary environment of tools and workflows,” said Harald Kröll, co-founder and CEO of Chipmind. 

“That is the reality we built for. Our ‘design-aware’ agents are engineered to holistically understand the entire chip context, not just the surrounding tools. We’ve found this deep awareness is the key that unlocks productivity, translating directly into significant time savings on the most complex tasks, all while integrating seamlessly into existing workflows.”

The startup’s origin is rooted in academic and industry experience. Co-founders Harald Kröll and Sandro Belfanti met at ETH Zurich during their PhDs and together have been involved in the development of more than 20 chips, from mobile modems to system-on-chip designs. Their experience, they say, exposed how much of chip engineering is precise but repetitive work.

“Anyone who’s spent time in chip development knows how much of the work is repetitive and time-consuming, demanding precision but not necessarily creativity,” said Sandro Belfanti, Co-Founder and CTO of Chipmind. 

“Throughout my career developing chips at top-tier semiconductor companies, I’ve often wished for a solution that could magically take care of those tedious tasks so I could focus on solving real engineering challenges.

“With Chipmind Agents, we’re finally bringing that solution to life: AI agents that can autonomously handle the boring parts, letting engineers focus on what truly matters: innovation.”

Chipmind’s first funding round was led by Founderful, with several semiconductor industry angels joining the table. The founders say the money will go to hiring engineers, speeding up product work and deepening relationships with strategic customers.

The launch arrives as chip design grows continually harder, demand for compute rises, design complexity increases, and simply adding headcount is not a realistic fix. Chipmind places itself as a practical bridge, a way to keep existing toolchains while automating the parts of the process that slow teams down.

Edouard Treccani, principal at Founderful, added: “In a world buzzing with AI every day, Chipmind stands out as a refreshingly real solution to a problem Harald and Sandro have spent 20 years deep in. From day one, they’ve built in close dialogue with the market, and the early feedback has been remarkably positive. Founderful is thrilled to be part of their journey!”

Chipmind is offering demos to semiconductor groups interested in testing its agents and says it will continue scaling its engineering team as it works with early customers.