Pomegra
French deep-tech startup AlpSemi has closed a €17 million ($19.5 million) funding round to bring wide-bandgap semiconductor power switches to AI data centers and commercial buildings, backed by Yotta Capital, Schneider Electric Ventures, Navitas Semiconductor, and Cycle Group.
- AlpSemi secured €17M ($19.5M) led by Yotta Capital, with participation from SE Ventures, Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS), and Cycle Group.
- The Grenoble startup's wide and ultra-wide bandgap semis replace mechanical circuit breakers with fully digital, software-controlled solid-state switches.
- Proceeds fund commercial scale-up of the AS800 chip and a follow-on device targeting 800V DC AI data center infrastructure.
Lead
AlpSemi, the Grenoble-based semiconductor startup founded in 2024, announced on June 23, 2026, the close of a €17 million Series A round to industrialize its next-generation solid-state circuit breaker power switches. The raise was led by Yotta Capital Partners, with co-investment from Schneider Electric Ventures (EPA: SU), Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS), and Luxembourg's Cycle Group — bringing together strategic capital from across the power electronics value chain.What Happened
AlpSemi develops wide and ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor power switches engineered to displace the century-old electromechanical circuit breaker. Rather than interrupting current flow with a physical spring mechanism, the company's chips stop electron movement through solid-state means, eliminating moving parts entirely. The result is a digitally controlled, software-addressable power switch capable of millisecond-level precision.The company's first commercial product, the AS800, targets solid-state miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) for 110V and 230V environments — the residential and commercial building market. A second-generation device, optimized for 800V direct-current architectures in AI data centers, is in development and will follow the AS800 to market.
CEO Frédéric Dupont and CTO Fabrice Letertre co-founded AlpSemi in 2024, drawing on deep expertise in compound semiconductor design and power conversion. The company operates out of Grenoble's established semiconductor ecosystem, France's historic center for microelectronics research.
Strategic Context
The investor mix is notably strategic. Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS), a NASDAQ-listed wide-bandgap semiconductor specialist, lends both capital and supply-chain credibility. Schneider Electric Ventures brings direct exposure to building energy management — the primary near-term market for the AS800. Yotta Capital, a French venture firm focused on deep tech, leads a round that reflects Paris's growing ambition to anchor European semiconductor sovereignty.
Wide and ultra-wide bandgap materials — including gallium nitride (GaN) and gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) — outperform legacy silicon in power density, switching speed, and thermal efficiency. For semis applied to circuit protection, these properties translate into faster fault response, lower heat dissipation, and the ability to embed intelligence directly into the power distribution layer.
AI and Technology Angle
The AI infrastructure buildout is placing unprecedented strain on power architecture. Hyperscale data centers increasingly operate on 800V DC bus systems to reduce conversion losses at scale, and traditional mechanical breakers cannot provide the switching speed or digital integration these environments demand. AlpSemi's roadmap directly addresses this bottleneck — solid-state switches enable real-time monitoring, remote actuation, and load balancing at the circuit level, capabilities that are becoming operational requirements rather than optional features.
The convergence of grid modernization in buildings and AI-driven power density growth in data centers positions the solid-state circuit breaker as an infrastructure component with two distinct and large end markets maturing simultaneously.
What Comes Next
The €17 million raise funds production ramp of the AS800 and accelerates the data center device through development. Commercial traction with building automation customers and design wins with data center operators will be the near-term milestones that determine AlpSemi's path to a larger growth round. The involvement of Schneider Electric Ventures and Navitas Semiconductor as co-investors suggests both parties are positioned to become distribution or integration partners as products reach commercialization.
