imec to set up €40m chiplet development centre in Germany
imec is to set up a centre in Germany to develop automotive chiplet technology.
The Advanced Chip Design Accelerator (ACDA) will be based in Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany, following backing of €40m over the next five years.
The aim is to better support the local and international automotive industry in derisking and accelerating the introduction of automotive chiplets into manufacturing. Japan has a similar project aiming for automotive chiplets in production in 2028.
The ACDA centre at the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI) in Heilbronn will develop pre-competitive chiplet, packaging, system integration, sensing, and (edge) AI technology as part of imec’s Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP), along with German research institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. This will drive a national chiplet development activity.
“We are excited to bring our expertise and global partner network to the state of Baden-Württemberg, the cradle of the automotive industry in Germany,” said Luc Van den hove, President and CEO of imec, above, left, with Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Minister of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of the State of Baden-Württemberg. “We also look forward to expanding our collaboration with Fraunhofer to leverage on our complementary expertise and lay the foundation for future chiplet solutions.”
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“Chiplet technology is a key component for the next generation of semiconductors. We expect this new technology to fuel innovation across industries, be it automotive, aerospace or artificial intelligence.,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
In the recently launched APECS project, Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) has teamed up with European partners to develop the technological foundations for pilot production of chiplets.
“We believe that establishing a national chiplet center is the next logical step. Based on industry-specific boundary conditions, this is where we will analyze use cases together with companies, derive technological solutions and align the pilot line being established in the APECS projects with industry needs,” he said.
“This will be a decisive milestone on the way to becoming an international leader in the development and production of chiplets and thus an important contribution to the technological sovereignty and economic strength of Germany and Europe. The close collaboration between research and industry across Europe, as exemplified by Fraunhofer, will enable us to optimally leverage the innovative strength of chiplet technology. This will allow us to quickly transfer new developments into applications, thereby achieving a real competitive advantage on an international level.”
The Advanced Chip Design Accelerator is part of a chip design strategy of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg and part of the European’s Commission strategy to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The project also meets the strategic goal of the European Commission to launch the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance.
The State of Baden-Württemberg will support the local ecosystem with an additional €5m for a network office and the support for scientific cooperation on chiplet technologies, headed by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
However skills are a key requirement.
“To realize the region’s ambitions, we will also focus on growing the talent pipeline across Europe by training engineers in close collaboration with the local ecosystem, including
universities,” said Van den hove at imec. “In addition, we aim to expand the developed
high-performance computing solutions to the European level, thus contributing to the acceleration of innovation in the European automotive industry with unique and distinctive building blocks.”
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