Xelera and the EIC Accelerator: Open RAN Software Still a Prototype

Xelera Technologies, registered in Darmstadt in 2018, writes software that runs demanding workloads on hardware accelerators such as accelerator cards and SmartNICs. Its EIC project, DYRA, promised "as an industry first" a hardware-independent Open RAN distributed unit, the part of a 5G base station that does most of the processing. It said this mattered "because of the lack of established European suppliers", according to CORDIS.

The European Innovation Council granted €1,742,160 towards a €2.49 million project from January 2023 to June 2025. The report says Xelera built a working private 5G base station prototype and integrated acceleration hardware from NXP. Its central goal was to fit a function that today needs a high-performance server onto a single accelerator card. On that the report says the experiments "do not yet provide a definitive answer". Xelera presented DYRA at a 5G event in Dresden in June 2025. Its website now lists two products, Silva, an AI inference platform aimed at high-frequency trading, and Xelera Net SmartNIC software, and does not mention DYRA or 5G.

Where Xelera Stands Now

In October 2025 Xelera announced a strategic investment from Hi Inov Venture Capital and the EIC Fund to scale "across the European data-center market", with no amount given. Its news since then covers trading conferences in London, New York and Sydney, a Deutsche Börse open day and a partnership with Blackcore Technologies. Xelera says running Silva on Blackcore hardware gives "44× faster inference and under 1.6 µs latency" for trading firms. The June 2025 Dresden post called DYRA "the outcome of our contribution" to the German-French 5G-OPERA research project.

The Technology: Accelerating the Base Station

The report describes three steps: turning the O-RAN Alliance specifications into an implementation plan, building a 5G test system from several vendors' servers, switches, radios and open-source software, and integrating NXP's acceleration platform. A smartphone could connect to the internet over the prototype network. The report itself says the prototype "does not constitute a unique result beyond the state of the art".

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

DYRA promised a high-performance, energy-efficient distributed unit that would give Europe an Open RAN supplier. The report ends with the core question unresolved and says "the second project year will be used to build out this use case", although it covers the period to the project's end in June 2025. No customer for DYRA has been announced. CORDIS still lists the project as signed.

1. 5G test systemDeliveredPrototype operational.
2. Hardware accelerationIntegratedNXP platform.
3. Single-card DU performanceUnproven"Not yet definitive".
4. Product on the marketNot listedAbsent from product pages.

The Money

Xelera's published accounts are balance sheets, which North Data shows only to paying users, so its revenue and losses are not public. The German federal funding register, as shown by North Data, lists grants for storage, machine learning and two 5G projects since 2019, including €527,564 for 5G-OPERA. Its share capital rose from €25,000 to €31,208 through capital increases in March and November 2025.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC funded DYRA because Europe lacks Open RAN suppliers. The project ended with a prototype and an open question, and the EIC Fund's later investment was announced for Xelera's data centre business.

The Verdict

Xelera Technologies and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.