European research labs to receive US$2.72 billion funding from EU’s Chips Act

Leading European research labs will receive 2.5 billion euros (US$2.72 billion) in funding under the European Chips Act to set up a pilot line that will develop and test future generations of advanced semiconductors, Belgium’s imec said on Wednesday.

The 43-billion-euro Chips Act was announced in 2022 and established last year by the European Union (EU) to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing, a counterbalance to plans by China, the United States and other governments to shore up their own industries following shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Leuven, Belgium-based research hub imec will host the pilot line for the sub-2-nanometre chips to help European industry, academics and start-ups access chip-making technology that would otherwise be too expensive for any one of them to test or use in development.

Top chip makers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), Intel and Samsung Electronics are launching 2-nanometre chips this year and next year in commercial fabrication plants, or fabs, costing as much as 20 billion euros.