MAXELER TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED

Their core work

Maxeler Technologies designs and builds dataflow computing engines based on FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) technology that dramatically accelerate compute-intensive workloads while reducing energy consumption. Their hardware and software stack enables organizations to run simulations, big data analytics, machine learning, and HPC applications orders of magnitude faster than conventional processors. Across their H2020 portfolio, they consistently serve as the acceleration technology provider — the team that takes a consortium's computational bottleneck and makes it run on reconfigurable hardware. Their work spans healthcare data processing, exascale computing, smart city applications, and cybersecurity simulation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Maxeler's early H2020 work (2015-2016) centred on proving that dataflow engines and FPGAs could accelerate diverse workloads: cloud self-organisation, CPS simulation, healthcare big data, and general heterogeneous computing with GPUs and MICs alongside their DFE technology. From 2017 onward, their focus sharpened significantly toward exascale computing and energy efficiency — three of their later projects (EuroEXA, LEGaTO, EXA2PRO) directly target European exascale ambitions, while energy efficiency became a recurring keyword. The evolution shows a company that moved from broad acceleration demos to positioning itself as a key infrastructure provider for Europe's next-generation supercomputing ecosystem.

Maxeler is converging on energy-efficient exascale and reconfigurable computing, making them a natural partner for any consortium tackling high-performance workloads under power constraints.

How they like to work

Maxeler operates exclusively as a technology partner — across all 9 projects they participated but never coordinated, which is typical for a specialist SME that brings a specific hardware capability rather than managing large research programmes. With 70 unique partners across 18 countries, they maintain a broad European network rather than repeating with the same groups, suggesting they are sought after by different consortia for their FPGA expertise. Working with them means getting a focused, specialist contributor who delivers acceleration technology to your computational workload.

Maxeler has built a wide network of 70 unique consortium partners spanning 18 countries, reflecting strong demand for their FPGA acceleration expertise across Europe's HPC and cloud computing research communities. No single geographic cluster dominates — they collaborate pan-European.

What sets them apart

Maxeler occupies a rare niche as a commercial FPGA dataflow computing company that actively participates in EU research — most FPGA work in H2020 is done by universities, not product companies with deployable hardware. Their consistent presence across cloud, HPC, healthcare, and IoT projects shows they can adapt their acceleration platform to almost any compute-intensive domain. For consortium builders, Maxeler brings both research credibility (9 H2020 projects) and commercial viability as an SME that must deliver products, not just papers.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EuroEXA
  Largest single grant (EUR 1.245M) and flagship European exascale project — co-designing a complete computing system from applications to silicon
• AEGLE
  Demonstrates Maxeler's cross-sector reach: applying FPGA acceleration to healthcare big data and personalized medicine, far from their typical HPC domain
• LEGaTO
  Bridges Maxeler's hardware expertise with real-world applications in smart cities and machine learning, showing the practical deployment path for their technology