23 May 2024 · 1 min read
The ITF World 2024, the yearly technological forum organised by imec and held this year in Antwerp between 21-22 May, has been the source of important announcements for the European semiconductor industry.
With the entry into force of the European Chips Act on 21 September 2023, the EU’s ambition has been to mobilize more than 43 billion euro of public and private investment to strengthen EU’s position in the semiconductor value chain. Nevertheless, the offered funding has been closely tied to public investments up to this time.
As announced by Thomas Skordas, Deputy Director of DG CNECT (European Commission), the European Chips Act is set to attract more private investment to the European semiconductor industry by 2030. The official disclosed that investments of 100 billion euros are expected to expand EU’s manufacturing capacity.
In addition, the European Commission is finalizing funding for R&D pilot lines in four sub-sectors of the chip industry by September 2024. As a result, leading European research labs will receive 2.5 billion euros to develop and test advanced chips in Europe. As highlighted by imec CEO Luc Van den Hove, the investment will enable to double production volumes and increase the learning speed, which in turn will advance Europe’s innovation capacity.
Furthermore, imec revealed that it will host the pilot line for the sub-2 nanometre chips. The NanoIC pilot line will support multiple European industries and provide them access to new semiconductor technologies.
The European Commission is also envisaging funding for the set-up of a European design platform. The platform will enable companies, startups and academia to explore advanced software tools and design their own chips. As stated by Thomas Skordas, an open call will be launched in July to select the consortium that will develop the platform at the European level.
