EPI Unveils Athena1: Europe's New Reliable Processor for Defence and Aerospace
The European Processor Initiative (EPI) has announced Athena1, a new processor designed by French chipmaker SiPearl. Athena1, set to launch in the second half of 2027, prioritises reliability over performance, making it ideal for defence and aerospace sectors. It will be available for purchase by governments and manufacturers across the EU.
Athena1 relies on DDR5 memory, making it more affordable than Rhea1. It uses 80 ARM cores of the Neoverse V1 type, unlike Rhea1 which has High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM2e) directly on the CPU carrier. Athena1 will have variants with different core counts: 80, 64, 48, 32, and 16, catering to various needs.
The processor is designed for three main application fields: government, defence industry, and aerospace. A short presentation video explicitly shows military equipment as an application area. TSMC, a Taiwanese chip manufacturer, produces Athena1, with no European alternative for the manufacturing process currently available. TSMC will initially handle further processing of Athena1 chips, including packaging, before SiPearl brings the packaging to Europe to strengthen the local industry.
Athena1's focus on reliability, affordability, and versatility makes it an attractive option for defence and aerospace sectors. Its launch in the second half of 2027 will provide EU governments and manufacturers with a locally produced processor option.
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