Flow Computing Oy, a leader in on-die ultra-high-performance parallel computing solutions for CPU vendors, has announced €4 million in pre-seed funding from various Nordic venture capital firms and business entities.

In a press release dated June 11, 2024, Flow Computing unveiled its revolutionary Parallel Processing Unit (PPU) architecture, capable of integrating with any CPU design architecture to deliver a 100-fold performance boost. This technology eliminates the need for costly GPU acceleration by enhancing standard Von Neumann-based computer designs, enabling “CPU 2.0” throughput levels.

Flow’s PPU is fully backwards compatible with existing software applications and can accelerate current parallel functionality significantly through recompilation. The performance boost increases with the number of integrated PPU cores. Flow offers optimized licenses for various CPU market segments, including mobile, PC, and supercomputers. The PPU enhances not only the CPU but also benefits all connected units like matrix units, vector units, NPUs, and GPUs.

Flow is in talks with major semiconductor vendors and will share more details at the Hot Chips 2024 event at Stanford University. The pre-seed funding round includes Butterfly Ventures, FOV Ventures, Sarsia, Stephen Industries, Superhero Capital, and Business Finland. As a spinout from VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, VTT retains an equity stake and has transferred its patented IP to Flow.

CEO Timo Valtonen emphasizes that Flow's PPU architecture addresses the stagnation in CPU performance, driven by demands in AI, edge, and cloud computing. Antti Vasara, CEO of VTT, highlights Finland’s ambition to lead in semiconductor design through Flow’s innovations. Juho Risku of Butterfly Ventures believes Flow will significantly impact computing performance, surpassing advancements from quantum computing.

Read the original press release here.