Ireland’s Tyndall Institute to partner in the NanoIC €2.5bn pilot line.
Tyndall National Institute is set to benefit as one of the NanoIC pilot line’s partner institutes.
Tyndall National Institute is poised to play a key role as a partner in the NanoIC pilot line, one of the flagship initiatives under the EU Chips Act.
The European Union has taken another major step in its push for global semiconductor leadership with the launch of NanoIC, a €2.5 billion project and the largest pilot line supported through the Chips Act.
The EU Chips Act includes five pilot lines — Fames, Apecs, WBG, PixEurope and NanoIC — representing a combined investment of €3.7 billion from the EU and its member states. These pilot lines are central to the Chips Act strategy, helping bridge the gap between research breakthroughs and large-scale manufacturing by bringing chip innovation from the “lab to the fab.”
NanoIC was officially launched on 9 February at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Imec) in Leuven, Belgium. The facility is backed by €700 million in EU funding, a further €700 million from national and regional governments, and additional investment from ASML and other industry partners.
Notably, NanoIC is the first European site to deploy cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology. The facility will focus on the design and production of chips using processes beyond the 2-nanometre scale. EUV lithography, developed by ASML, uses light with extremely short wavelengths of 13.5 nanometres — approaching the range of X-rays — to enable next-generation chip manufacturing.
NanoIC will be open to start-ups, researchers, SMEs and large enterprises, supporting innovation across the semiconductor ecosystem. While hosted at Imec, the initiative is strengthened through collaboration with major European research partners, including Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute, France’s CEA-Leti, Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre, and Romania’s Center for Surface Science and Nanotechnology.
The pilot line launches almost four years after the Chips Act was first introduced in 2022 and follows the recent endorsement of the Semiconductor Declaration by EU member states. This declaration highlights the strategic importance of semiconductors for Europe’s competitiveness and resilience and is expected to inform the upcoming “Chips Act 2.0” revision.
NanoIC follows closely behind the launch of another pilot line, Fames, at CEA in France, which was introduced on 30 January to advance ultra-low-power semiconductor technologies.
The announcement also comes shortly after Tyndall revealed an investment expansion package exceeding €100 million, aimed at doubling its footprint and reinforcing Ireland’s growing global presence in semiconductor research and development.
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