EU inaugurates NanoIC facility for next-generation chips

The European Union (EU) has put €700 million into NanoIC, the largest of five pilot lines designated under the EU Chips Act.

The Act includes five lines – Fames, Apecs, WBG, PixEurope and NanoIC - aimed at bringing chip technology "from the lab to the fab". The aim is to strengthen the position of European players in the global semiconductor market, reducing the current reliance on Asian and US supply chains.

NanoIC has now pulled in a total of €2.5 billion in investment, with €700 million from national and regional governments and the rest from ASML and other industry partners.

In a statement confirming the move, the European Commission said NanoIC will accelerate the development of next-generation semiconductor technology for use in AI, autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and 6G mobile technology.

It's the first European facility to deploy the most advanced Extreme Ultraviolet lithography machine. This allows the design and manufacture of chips using technology beyond two nanometers – a big step forward for the European semiconductor manufacturing industry.

NanoIC is built on the principle of open access, with startups, researchers, SMBs and large organizations all able to use the facilities.

The project is based at the Interuniversity Centre for Microelectronics in Leuven, Belgium, and is supported by partners including Tyndall National Institute in Ireland, French research organization CEA-Leti, and Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

The site includes a new 2,000 square meters expansion of the existing cleanroom, bringing it up to more than 12,000 square meters. Construction will begin soon to create an extra 4,000 square meter cleanroom.

It will house a best-in-class toolset, including ASML’s next-generation High NA EUV scanner, which is scheduled to arrive in the middle of next month. Over the next five years, the NanoIC pilot line will integrate more than a hundred new tools, distributed across imec and its partner sites.

"By providing access to cutting-edge semiconductor technologies, the NanoIC pilot line will play a crucial role in strengthening Europe’s industrial fabric in the AI era, and ensuring a climate of economic growth, security, and prosperity for decades to come,” said Luc Van den hove, CEO of imec, which is hosting the project.

The pilot lines come four years after the Chips Act was first announced in 2022. Last month, EU member states officially endorsed a Semiconductor Declaration calling for the Act to be strengthened though a Chips Act 2.0.

“We don't have the luxury of being the biggest or the strongest, but we do have the choice to be the best,” said Matthias Diependaele, Flemish minister-president. “With the NanoIC pilot line, Europe is making that choice a reality: for technological excellence and strategic independence."

Fames, a pilot line aimed at advancing ultra-low-power semiconductors in Europe, launched late last month, covering advanced FD-SOI nodes, embedded non-volatile memories, RF passives, 3D integration and power management.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Make sure to follow ITPro on Google News to keep tabs on all our latest news, analysis, and reviews.

You can also follow ITPro on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and BlueSky.