The first processor from the European Processor Initiative (EPI) marks another important step towards market readiness. Initial samples of Rhea1 are running in the lab and behaving as expected by the engineers. This is a milestone in the so-called bring-up phase for assessing the processor. Deliveries to customers are scheduled to begin by the end of the year, SiPearl from France announced.
On May 13, 2026, SiPearl powered on the first Rhea1 processor. The company now estimates another ten weeks for validation of all functions, connections, and performance characteristics. “Initial results are very positive,” writes SiPearl.
In the final Rhea1 version, there are 80 ARM Neoverse V1 standard cores, flanked by 64 GB of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2e), divided into four memory stacks. Each CPU core integrates two 256-bit vector units (SVE) for parallel computing tasks. Additionally, there are four memory channels for DDR5 RAM and 104 PCI Express 5.0 lanes for expansion cards and controllers.
A Bit of Sovereignty
SiPearl is the most important company in the European processor initiative. The company is tasked with designing high-performance CPUs for European servers, data centers, and supercomputers to reduce the EU's dependence, especially on US companies. However, complete independence is not feasible: manufacturing is handled by the Taiwanese chip contract manufacturer TSMC with its N6 process, an improved version of the 7-nanometer class.
