EU funding for Tampere University's semiconductor pilot line
The institution of the EU chip act (EU Chips Act) chose 11.4. four funded semiconductor pilot line presentations. The University of Tampere and VTT participate in the pilot lines selected from Finland.
The University of Tampere is involved in the Wideband-gap (WBG) pilot line, which focuses on the development of so-called WBG semiconductor technologies and the testing and integration of the chips created with them. These are new generation semiconductors that are needed in several important systems, such as electric motor controllers, battery management circuits and fast energy charging, power converters needed in solar energy systems, efficient power supplies and 5G base stations.
The budget of the University of Tampere in the pilot line is 40 million euros. Funding comes from both the Finnish government and the European Commission. With the funding, a pilot line for encapsulating semiconductor chips (System-in-Package Fabrication, SiPFAB) will be built in Tampere. It enables the testing of WBG chips and the integration and packaging of various chips into complete systems. The application has been prepared in cooperation with the Chips from Finland project of the city of Tampere.
Tampere University Rector Keijo Hämäläinen says that this is Finland's largest single investment targeted at the university in research and innovation infrastructure. - In the coming years, the University of Tampere will also strengthen its own expertise in this sector. Tampere will be a major European competence center that will attract both academic experts and business activities to the region.
According to Business Tampere's Chips from Tampere program manager Petri Räsänen, the funding decision brings Tampere into the core of EU chip development. - The pilot line has been an important goal in the Chips from Tampere program. It's great that it was achieved so soon. We get to create the next generation of chip solutions for electrification, security and data communication. The next step here is to create a center of expertise related to chips.
In the further preparation, contract negotiations are held in the EU with all consortia selected for financing, and the goal is to get the contracts signed within this year.
The EU's goal is to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and resilience in the field of semiconductor technology and applications by means of the chip regulation and to support the implementation of both the digital and green transition. The chip regulation aims to prevent semiconductor shortages and strengthen Europe's technological leadership.
