The latest episode of For Tech’s Sake dives deep into the world of algorithms and AI recommender systems to find out how much power they really hold over us.

Read more: Are algorithms the real online influencers?

As AI boosts demand for more data storage, Europe is considering sending data centres into space — and the plan is not as outlandish as it may first appear.  

A 16-month, €2 million study has concluded that space-based data centres are technically, economically, and environmentally feasible. 

Thales Alenia Space and Leonardo coordinated the ASCEND study, which was funded by the EU. The research also tapped expertise from the likes of Airbus, ArianeGroup, and the German Space Agency. 

“Deploying data centres in space could transform the European digital landscape, offering a more eco-friendly and sovereign solution for hosting and processing data,” said Christophe Valorge, chief technical officer at Thales Alenia Space.  

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The ASCEND team aims to deploy 13 space data centre “building blocks” with a total capacity of 10MW in 2036. The overall goal is to achieve 1GW of storage by 2050, project manager Damien Dumestier told CNBC. 

The space-based data centres would orbit Earth at an altitude of around 1,400km, three times higher than the International Space Station (ISS).

The hidden environmental costs of AI

In May, Google added a new feature to its search engine that produces AI-generated summaries to queries. Other than regularly spewing out factually incorrect information, AI Overviews comes with a hidden cost: it uses up to 10 times more energy than a traditional Google search.

Digitisation, and more specifically the rise of AI, is skyrocketing demand for data storage. The electricity demand for data centres is now outpacing electricity supply in some parts of the world. Many of these facilities are still powered by fossil fuels.  

The EU launched ASCEND to compare the environmental impacts of space-based and Earth-based data centres, as it looks to catch up with the US and China in data storage capacity. 

Unlike their land-cased counterparts, data centres in space could be powered by 24/7 solar energy. They also wouldn’t require water for cooling — because space is really, really cold.  

However, the study also found that for space-based data centres to make sense environmentally, a new type of launcher that produces 10 times less emissions would need to be developed. The data centres would also have to use rocket fuel to stay in orbit, which would most definitely cut into its green credentials. 

ArianeGroup is working on a eco-launcher that could take care of the launch emissions. However, scientists are still a long way off from producing a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to rocket fuel.

Nevertheless, given the energy and land constraints back on Earth, setting up data centres in space may be a moonshot worth taking.

Apple said this week it will postpone the roll-out of AI features on EU devices amid security concerns related to the DMA.

Read more: EU’s Vestager calls Apple’s decision to delay AI features ‘stunning’

Microsoft has been the victim of a couple of high-profile breaches over the past year, which has put its cybersecurity practices under scrutiny.

Read more: Microsoft warns customers that Russian hackers accessed emails

Eindhoven-based startup Axelera has raised $68mn as it looks to take its AI chip business global. One of the lead investors is Samsung Catalyst, the venture arm of semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics.  

Axelera is developing chips, known as AI processing units (AIPUs), that enable computer vision and generative AI in devices like robots and drones. The chips facilitate so-called edge AI — when AI models are deployed inside devices, instead of linking to them via the cloud.  

Axelera builds the AIPUs as well as the software that runs them. Dubbed Metis, the startup claims that it is the world’s most powerful AI chip for edge devices.

The AI chips are, in effect, tiny data centres located within the device. By negating the need to upload or download data to a centralised cloud server, the chips speed up data processing. They also minimises energy use. 

What’s more, Axelera leverages what’s known as in-memory computing. That’s when data is stored in the main memory (RAM) instead of on traditional disk storage. This makes for even faster data processing and retrieval. 

The startup’s chips thus deliver high computing performance at a fraction of the cost and energy consumption of centralised AI processing units, said the startup.   

“To truly harness the value of AI, organisations need a solution that delivers high-performance and efficiency while balancing cost,” said Fabrizio Del Maffeo, co-founder and CEO at Axelera AI. 

Axelera claims it has built the world’s most powerful AI processing unit for edge devices. Credit: Axelera
Democratising AI 

Axelera’s chips make use of the instruction set architecture (ISA) RISC-V. An ISA acts like a bridge between the hardware and the software. It specifies both what the processor is capable of doing as well as how it gets done. 

RISC-V is a low-cost, efficient, and flexible ISA that can be customised to specific use cases. Crucially, unlike most ISAs, it is open source, which means no single entity controls it.

“Our mission is to democratise access to artificial intelligence,” said Del Maffeo. 

By specialising in edge AI, and developing both the software and hardware components, Axelera looks to give itself a competitive edge in a booming AI chip market dominated by the likes of Nvidia, Intel, and IBM. 

Speaking of IBM, Del Maffeo, who previously worked at Belgium-based tech lab Imec, co-founded Axelera alongside Evangelos Eleftheriou, a former veteran at the American tech giant.   

Axelera plans to put its AI processing units into full production in the latter half of this year. It looks to expand its presence in North America, where it already has an office, and into new industries such as automotive, digital healthcare, and surveillance. The startup is also exploring the development of high performance AI chips for data centres and supercomputers. 

Hailing from Eindhoven, Axelera exists in one of the most mature semiconductor tech hubs in the world. The city is home to Philips-founded NXP Semiconductors and ASML, which produces chip-making machines for almost every major semiconductor manufacturer on Earth. 

This latest funding round brings Axelera’s total raised to $120mn. New investors include the Samsung Catalyst Fund, European Innovation Council Fund, Innovation Industries Strategic Partnership Fund, and Invest-NL.

Notification prioritisation, new writing tools, an OpenAI chatbot and the new Siri are all AI features that could help make the Vision Pro headset a device to work with.

Read more: Apple is bringing AI features to the Vision Pro

The warm weather finally arrived! But before we begin to wind things down for the summer months, let’s catch up once more with the latest developments in Dutch tech. 

Of course, in our mind, the best news from the week that passed was our own TNW Conference taking place in Zaandam, just outside of Amsterdam. (Next year we are back at one of our favourite locations at NDSM island, grab your 2-for-1 tickets now!) 

This year featured some of the best keynote speakers and panellists in our 18-year history, along with rich networking opportunities and the signature festival feel that TNW is known for.

What we are writing about

What we are reading 

Dutch Dealroom rival Bounce Watch secures pre-Seed funding (Silicon Canals)
Noord-Nederland helpt ASML voor Nederland te behouden (Computable.nl)
Europe is at risk of over-restricting AI and falling behind US and China, Dutch prince says (CNBC) 

Dutch startup of the week: Source.ag
Rien Kamman and Ernst van Bruggen founded Source.ag in 2020. Credit: Source.ag

Source.ag is a Dutch agtech startup founded in 2020 by Rien Kamman and Ernst van Bruggen. The company specialises in AI-driven solutions for greenhouse farming to address global food shortages while conserving water usage. 

Source.ag recently launched a new product called Source Cultivate which supports growers in their decision-making process with accurate yield forecasting up to eight weeks before harvest. It claims a 90% accuracy in yield forecasts three to four weeks out, and has been developed in collaboration with top-tier growers. 

Other products track and improve cultivation processes, streamline and enhance greenhouse operations, and also include an autonomous irrigation system which uses AI to adjust irrigation in real-time. 

The startup recently expanded into North America, opening an office in Chicago. It has raised a total of approximately $37mn to date. 

Our weekly coverage of Dutch tech news will be taking a break over the summer. If you have any ideas of what we should feature, a particularly interesting startup to keep an eye on, or what kind of news you would like to see covered, drop us a line and let us know. See you again in September!