In brief

• The European Union will allocate €525 million to support start-ups designing semiconductors.
• Of this amount, €440 million will be grants, and €85 million will go to the European chip design platform.
• European chip design companies have a small share of global revenues, so Brussels wants to increase their role.

Money for young chip companies

The European Commission, together with member states, will allocate €440 million in grants for start-ups. The money is meant to cover the costs of developing chips intended for commercial use (Europe to invest €525 million in chip startups to catch up with US and China – Investing.com) (Europe to invest €525 million in chip startups to catch up with US and China – aol.com). Another €85 million will go to the European Chips Design Platform (Unia Europejska przeznacza 525 mln euro na własne procesory – ithardware.pl).

Platform for designers

The platform launched by the European Union is intended to give companies access to chip design tools, design support services and ready-made intellectual property blocks. Start-ups will also gain access to production capacity.

European Commission Executive Vice-President responsible for technological sovereignty Henna Virkkunen believes that without progress in design, Europe will not strengthen its position in the global semiconductor industry. As she added, a well-developed designer ecosystem will increase demand for fabs and strengthen the entire European value chain.

Europe's weak position in design

European chip design companies control a small part of the world market for this segment, below 1 percent of revenues. The Commission emphasizes that factories alone are not enough to become independent of foreign suppliers.

The initiative is part of the EU Chips Act. The industry is developing rapidly thanks to strong demand linked to artificial intelligence.