Chips JU : Aeneas

The Chips Joint Undertaking (JU) supports research, development, innovation, and future manufacturing capacities in the European semiconductor ecosystem.

The European Chips Act and the amendment to the Regulation establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe entered into force on 21 September 2023, paving the way for strategic developments in the chip technology sector.

One significant outcome of these changes was the expansion and renaming of the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking (KDT JU), into the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU). As part of the Chips for Europe Initiative, the Chips JU confronts semiconductor shortages and strengthens Europe’s digital autonomy, engaging a significant EU, national/regional and private industry funding of nearly €11 billion.

Objectives

The Chips JU has an enlarged scope compared with the KDT JU. It has been indeed equipped for its new tasks related to the Chips Act.

The Chips JU will implement activities under the original KDT JU (also known as ‘non-Initiative’ activities) as well as activities under the ‘Chips for Europe Initiative’ under the first 4 operational objectives detailed hereafter:

Objective 1: Build large-scale design innovative capacities for integrated semiconductor technologies
Objective 2: Enhance existing and developing new pilot lines
Objective 3: Build advanced technology and engineering capacities for accelerating the development of quantum chips
Objective 4: Create a network of competence centres across Europe

The Chips JU activities are broken down into research & innovation activities and capacity building activities.

More details about the Chips Act and the Chips JU here.

Global funding

As the outcome of a long legislative process, the EU budget will support the Chips for Europe Initiative with a total of up to €3.3 billion, including €1.425 via Horizon Europe, €1.45B via Digital Europe Programme and €425 M for the Chips fund via Invest EU and the EIC in the period 2023-2027. Together with €1.3 billion from the EU budget for the KDT JU, this results in a total EU budget of €4.175 billion for the Chips JU.

The Participating States are expected to provide commensurate amounts. Therefore, together with the contributions from project participants, the total public and private budget of the Chips JU for 2023-2027 will be about €11 billion.

Builds on KDT JU and ECSEL JU achievements

The KDT JU renamed Chips JU builds on its predecessor the ECSEL JU, which had a total of €4.8 billion investment and included 16 calls, 92 projects, and more than 3 100 participations.

Today Europe accounts for roughly 9-10% of global production – up from 6% five years ago thanks to the EU ECSEL initiative, which has been instrumental to reverse this trend.

Work Programme

The Work Programme (WP) is structured in two parts:

One specific part dedicated to the implementation of the Chips for Europe Initiative including:
- A sub-section on capacity building activities (funded under the Digital Europe Programme)
- A sub-section on related research and innovation activities (funded under Horizon Europe)
Another specific part dedicated to the R&I activities not covered under the Chips for Europe Initiative, being the continuation of the KDT JU activities (funded under the Horizon Europe Programme).

All research & innovation activities will be based on the Electronic Components and Systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda prepared by the industry associations AENEAS, EPoSS and Inside and adopted by the Governing Board of the Chips JU.

More to come on the Work Programme on the Chips JU portal here.

The amended 2023 Work Programme for the Pilot Lines is available here.

Calls

Regarding the Chips for Europe initiative, the Chips JU calls 2023 on the 4 pilot lines opened at the Chips JU Launch Event on 1 December 2023:
- Advanced 2nm and beyond,
- FD-SOI towards 7 nm,
- Advanced packaging and Heterogeneous integration,
- Wide Bandgap Semiconductors.
  - For each pilot line, 3 calls are open as follows:
    - Call for expression of interest for the selection of Hosting consortium which will manage the procurement of the tools and equipment of the pilot line
    - Call for proposal for the set-up, integration and process development: Research and Innovation Action – RIA funded under Horizon Europe programme
    - Call for proposal for the operational activities of the pilot lines: funded under the Digital Europe Programme
  - The deadline for submission of proposals is set on 29 February 2024, 17:00 CET, Brussels time. More on the Pilot Lines here.

The calls for the Design Platform and the Competence Centers are expected to be launched in Q3 2024.

The first Chips JU Calls on the non-initiative (ex KDT calls) were launched on 6 February 2024.

A first call for Innovation Actions consist of a global topic and 2 focus topics and run in 2 phases
A second call for Research and Innovation Actions consists of a global topic and 1 focus topic, and run in 2 phases.
A third call will include one topic for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) that will be implemented as one phase call without national contribution but in cooperation with South Korea (ROK).

The PO deadline for the two-stage calls and FPP deadline for the one-stage calls is set on 14 May 2024, 17:00 Brussels time.

More about these calls here.

The role of AENEAS in the Chips JU

The three Industry Associations AENEAS, Inside and EPoSS, that are partnering in the Chips JU with the European Commission and the Participating States, represent RD&I actors, such as large companies, SMEs, RTOs and universities. Their members participate in the Chips JU programme through collaborative projects.

The three Industry Associations, each have a seat with voting rights in the JU Governing Board, allowing them to represent the interests of their members and get the best conditions for their RD&I activities, be it in terms of topics covered by the Calls for proposals or the funding conditions of the associated grants.

Strategic Areas

The ECS SRIA is the basis for the Chips JU Calls for proposals. For the focus topics, please also refer to the description of each focus topic under the next coming Work Programme.

ECS key applications

Foundational technology layers

Cross-sectional technologies

Chips JU Calls

The first Chips JU Calls for the 4 pilot lines opened on 1st December 2023.

More information here

The Chips JU Non-Initiative Calls 2024 opened on 6 February 2024.