TensorX runs open-source models on Nvidia GPUs with zero data retention.

Irish start-up TensorX has raised €8m in a seed round to help further Europe in its plans for sovereign AI infrastructure.

Founded by Shane Morton, TensorX is committing the funds to procure Nvidia Blackwell GPUs for its EU AI inference platform, which runs on dedicated hardware in Dublin and Helsinki.

Morton raised the funds via his investment vehicle Darius Cubed Ventures. He is committing €4m towards the latest Nvidia hardware.

“Demand for sovereign AI infrastructure is outpacing supply across Europe,” said Morton. “We’re seeing it directly from enterprises in Germany, France, the Netherlands and the Nordics.”

Morton previously built and sold financial trading software before acquiring ICT Services, an Irish data centre infrastructure provider.

“Our €8m investment is the opening move. There is a far bigger buildout to come, and the infrastructure partnerships we have in Ireland mean we can move at the speed this market demands,” he said.

The EU is concerned about the control US technology companies wield over the bloc’s technology infrastructure and data. Over the years, its attempts to regulate US Big Tech firms have worsened tensions between the EU and the US, even eliciting threats of further tariffs from president Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, the bloc lost access to Anthropic’s leading AI models Mythos and Fable after a US export control directive. An EU spokesperson said that the move cemented why Europe needs to strengthen its technological sovereignty.

EU businesses are reportedly sharing these concerns, with data from Accenture suggesting that 62pc of European organisations seek sovereign AI, while 75pc of European enterprises plan to move AI workloads to local providers by 2030, according to Gartner.

Meanwhile, the possibility of the US government compelling US tech companies to share EU data adds to the bloc’s growing problems.

AI inference is vital to the AI stack, but poses data security concerns. For companies in finance, healthcare and law, sensitive data could be retained or reused by third-party providers against EU regulations, according to TensorX.

The company attempts to address this by running open-source models on dedicated Nvidia GPUs with zero data retention. “Nothing is stored, logged or reused, giving enterprises full control over where their data lives and how it’s used,” the Dublin-headquartered company said.

“European companies don’t want to make a political statement about their AI stack. They want to make a practical one,” said Tim Grant, TensorX’s chair. “Their data has to stay in Europe, on infrastructure they can trust, under laws they are required to comply with.”

The company is also in advanced talks to tap further financing to expand its European footprint, with capacity planned for Ireland, the UK, Germany, France and the Nordic countries. It has plans to deploy up to €100m in Blackwell GPUs.

TensorX is a part of Nvidia’s Inception programme – a free initiative that guides AI start-ups through the chipmaker’s platform and ecosystem. It partnered with long-term Nvidia partner Dell to source the GPU hardware.

According to TensorX, the company has already generated revenue across large regulated enterprises, partnership channels that route developer demand onto GPU compute, and SMEs building their own AI products on top of the company’s platform.

The company employs 14 people, Grant told the Business Post. It plans to hire six new workers, with most, if not all, based out of Dublin.

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