Strengthening Europe's semiconductor ecosystem step by step - part I
Timothy Llewellynn
Driving the Future of AI for Sentient Machines | Co-Founder of NVISO | President Bonseyes | Switzerland Digital NCP for Horizon Europe
On the 10th of January 2025, the Chips-JU quietly updated its strategic initiatives for 2025. While all the focus and attention in the media has clearly been captured by the new US president and Stargate, this announcement went largely unnoticed.
However, this update carries significant implications for Europe’s research and innovation agenda, particularly in the context of closing the innovation gap and achieving the 3% target outlined in the Draghi report “The future of European competitiveness”, the Heitor Report 'Align, act, accelerate'. The Chips-JU’s renewed focus on cutting-edge technologies, strategic autonomy, and fostering competitiveness is a testament to the EU’s commitment to maintaining its position at the forefront of global innovation and hopefully will spur greater private investment into these critical cutting-edge technologies.
Let's unpack the updates announced to the ECS R&I part.
HORIZON-JU-Chips-2025-1-IA: Global Innovation Action (IA)
Europe's vision for technological sovereignty and sustainability is becoming a reality through the ambitious Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) 2025 Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). This comprehensive roadmap aims to position Europe as a global leader in semiconductors by tackling key challenges in advanced technologies, manufacturing, and digital transformation.
At the heart of the agenda are open challenges that span critical areas such as process technology, embedded software, connectivity, and sustainability. These challenges address not only technological advancement but also societal goals like cybersecurity, energy efficiency, and inclusivity. Let’s explore some of the hot themes shaping Europe’s semiconductor landscape mentioned in the update:
This pillar focuses on building a robust foundation for semiconductor innovation through advanced computing concepts such as in-memory, neuromorphic, photonic, and quantum computing. Sustainable manufacturing solutions for greener and more efficient semiconductor production and integration & wafer fab equipment for cutting-edge tools for smarter, scalable production.
The SRIA highlights the growing role of software in the ecosystem, with open challenges including embedding AI and analytics into systems for smarter automation. Enabling sustainability through optimized, energy-efficient software as well as addressing complexity and lifecycle management for embedded systems. The main recommendation is a paradigm shift towards distributed low power architectures/topologies, from cloud to edge (what is called the “continuum of computing”) and using AI at the edge (but not necessarily only) leading to distributed intelligence.
With the rising importance of trusted electronics, the SRIA emphasizes the importance of building trust in Europe's semiconductor and digital ecosystem through robust quality, reliability, and cybersecurity measures. Ensuring hardware quality and reliability forms the backbone of this vision, providing a foundation for secure and efficient operations across industries. Connected software must also be dependable, enabling seamless communication and functionality between systems while maintaining the integrity of data and processes.
A key highlight is the integration of human-centric systems, where technology is designed to work intuitively with people, enhancing user experiences and promoting seamless interaction. This holistic approach ensures that as Europe advances technologically, the systems we create remain secure, reliable, and adaptable, fostering trust and confidence in a rapidly evolving digital world.
The agenda extends beyond semiconductors to tackle challenges in key sectors:
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HORIZON-Chips-2025-RIA: Global Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
Focuses on bottom-up programming to address the major challenges outlined in the Chips JU 2025 Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and targeting the development of next-generation semiconductor components and systems, including neuromorphic computing and heterogeneous integration. Excluding topics covered in other 2025 Chips JU calls, this initiative emphasizes ECS value chain integration, promoting platform building, interoperability, and the establishment of open standards. It encourages strong participation from SMEs, fostering their role in developing scalable, innovative solutions for broader market exploitation.
HORIZON-Chips-2025-IA HIA: Heterogeneous integration for high-performance automotive computing.
The increasing computing demands of modern vehicles and the limitations of Moore’s law necessitate a shift toward heterogeneous integration, particularly 2.5D and 3D chiplet-based designs. This approach offers a cost-effective and scalable solution, allowing the integration of dies fabricated at different process nodes, improving yield rates, and reducing time-to-market. Chiplet architectures enable greater flexibility by supporting modular, customizable, and upgradeable components, meeting the requirements of autonomous and connected vehicles while fostering innovation in the European automotive industry. The Chips JU builds on prior projects in this field by advancing process workflows (TRL 7-8) and integrating these developments with RISC-V-based hardware platforms.
This call seeks proposals to develop an automotive chiplet system framework that includes IP adaptation, base die development, and system integration for automotive use cases. Outputs must include tangible silicon demonstrators with a clear path to commercialization by European industry. Proposals must align with automotive requirements, feature inclusive consortia across the microelectronics and automotive value chain, and outline a medium-term roadmap for global competitiveness. Collaboration with related initiatives and projects is vital to ensure cohesive development, IP transfer, and the creation of a robust processor ecosystem for the European automotive sector.
HORIZON-JU-Chips-2025-IA FT1: RISC-V Automotive Hardware Platform
The automotive industry is undergoing a profound shift with the rise of software-defined vehicles (SDVs), where software drives key features, enabling real-time updates, customization, and advanced AI integration. This transformation demands a move from traditional distributed architectures to centralized E/E systems, enabling greater efficiency, scalability, and support for autonomous driving, ADAS, and V2X communication. To secure Europe's leadership in this competitive landscape, the upcoming programme focuses on developing a RISC-V Automotive Hardware Platform, advancing heterogeneous integration for high-performance computing, and leveraging AI-assisted tools to streamline SDV engineering, ensuring innovation and sustainability in the future of mobility.
The aim of this call is to develop in-vehicle demonstrators with PetaOPS computing capabilities on leading-edge processes, advancing a high-performance RISC-V automotive hardware platform. Key focus areas include developing RISC-V application processors with multi-core architectures and high-bandwidth memory for autonomous driving, AI and ML accelerators optimized for real-time and energy-efficient automotive applications, and system integration using 2.5D/3D technology for high-bandwidth interconnects. A robust software toolchain, collaboration with the Software Defined Vehicle Initiative, and benchmarking for safety and compliance with industry standards will ensure seamless hardware-software integration and pave the way for adopting RISC-V in safety-critical automotive systems.
HORIZON-Chips-2025-IA FT2: AI-assisted Methods and Tools for Software-Defined Vehicle Engineering Automation
This call focuses on leveraging AI-assisted methods and tools to revolutionize software engineering for the highly complex embedded and cyber-physical systems (ECS) underpinning software-defined vehicles (SDVs). With increasing demands for digitalization, connectivity, and functionality, the ECS landscape faces growing complexity, escalating costs, and a significant talent shortage. This initiative seeks to address these challenges by integrating generative AI and advanced automation to enhance engineering efficiency, optimize resource use, and support engineers in creative and complex tasks. The outcome will include a robust, open and extensible AI-assisted platform, integrating with legacy tools, promoting interoperability, and ensuring compliance with stringent safety, security, and certification standards.
The project emphasizes collaboration across the European automotive value chain, including OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, SMEs, startups, universities, and research organizations. Key deliverables include methods to automate tasks like code generation, debugging, and validation, alongside real-time data management and visualization. With a strong focus on human-AI collaboration, the solutions aim to streamline the ECS lifecycle from design to maintenance while maintaining a human-centered approach to ensure trustworthiness, regulatory compliance, and ethical standards. The resulting platform will not only advance SDV engineering but also establish best practices for other verticals, positioning Europe as a global leader in AI-powered ECS development.
HORIZON-Chips-2025-CSA: Boosting R&I cooperation between EU and Japan on semiconductors
This call aims to enhance R&I cooperation between the EU and Japan in the semiconductor sector through a €1M Coordination and Support Action (CSA). The initiative seeks to align ongoing semiconductor research activities in both regions, facilitate researcher exchanges, and identify priorities for future joint collaboration. It emphasizes developing a framework for coordinated efforts in areas like Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of semiconductor manufacturing, fostering partnerships across the value chain, and exploring talent exchanges between R&D and production sites. By organizing networks, workshops, and conferences, this action will strengthen cooperation between EU and Japanese stakeholders, improve supply chain security, and lay the groundwork for long-term collaboration in semiconductor R&I.
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