- Frech Technology Institute CEA-Leti is driving a program to match the knowledge and design work done by its member-experts with the technology-making population.
- Anyone building an IC to solve a problem is invited to reach out.
European technology consortium FAMES is offering its R&D services to technology companies and researchers interested in developing ICs in the EU as part of its FAMES Pilot Line Project to build chip-based solutions.
The €830 million ($920 million) initiative provides innovation and support for chip design to technologists and academists that are launching a new chip design. The pilot line offers two options for users to gain support: Open-Access Calls, which is open for two-month periods in the spring, or a Spontaneous User Request, available throughout the year.
Participants who bring their technology challenges and ideas are invited to submit User Requests to access the pilot line’s microelectronics R&D technologies and services. Potential users of the Open Access Call have already been applying to access the pilot line’s services. The overall initiative for both programs continues into 2028.
Pilot Focus
The FAMES Pilot Line focuses on five sets of technologies that are well-adapted to low power that will enable new chip architectures (which can include IoT chips). The consortium is developing two new FD-SOI generation nodes at 10 nm and 7 nm, embedded non-volatile memories (eNVMs) for fast and low power storage capabilities, and RF passive components. It is also offering two 3D integration technologies to enable more advanced 3D stacking of chips.
The initiative’s partnership program launched in December 2023 with support from the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) and coordinated by CEA-Leti with a goal to boost semiconductor innovation in Europe, while reinforcing Europe’s leadership in the technology world. Many of the potential users who have interacted with the group said they were seeking to access the pilot line’s cutting-edge microelectronics research and development services.
Initiative Partners
The consortium members see this initiative, as a vision for a long-term sustainable, resilient innovation in Europe, said Dominique Noguet, FAMES Pilot Line Project Coordinator, CEA-Leti.
The pilot will enable an ecosystem drawing from members’ offering of “experience, technological expertise, vision and openness to expand the technology platform further into a pan-European technology infrastructure,” said Susana Bonnetier, FAMES Pilot Line Open Access chairperson at CEA-Leti. Collaboration will take place between industry, subject-matter experts (SMEs), tech start-ups and research institutions.
The initiative is focused on promoting development of chips and applications in Europe by leveraging experts, research institutes and the technology industry to build around application and thereby enhancing Europe’s competitiveness.
Open-Access Calls End May 16
The process starts with visiting the pilot line’s website and selecting the Open Access Committee (OAC) prompt. The committee next evaluate the request to determine its eligibility. Applicants can add the a “project leader” to their request.
The FAMES team will contact that Project Leader to clarify their needs. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed at this time. Together they can construct the outline of the R&D project that will correspond with the applicant’s needs.
The group invites spontaneous outreach from the technology industry—it it takes place outside of the Open-Access call, it would typically be a longer term project. The consortium will work with the applicant beyond the 2025 Open-Access Call. While some of the applicants have come from outside of Europe, officials stressed tech-development based in Europe is the focus.
Additionally, the FAMES Academy is offering training. There will be a winter training program in January 2026 to go over the basics that designers would need to know to create digital, analog and RF circuits based on FD-SOI technologies and embedded on volatile memories, said Bonnetier.
A Service for European Silicon Industry
“People in the industry are welcome to ask us about the technologies we are developing in this program and what we can make available to them through the Open Access call,” she said. The goal is to make the research results and services accessible, as they become available, to technology companies.
“This is their opportunity to gain from what the consortium has been working on,” Noguet said.
When the consortium started the project, they received letters of support from 44 people in the silicon industry as well as IC stakeholders who are focused more in the application area for new ICs.
“They expressed an interest in what we’re doing in terms of technologies that could be used for their own applications, so it’s not only people directly in the semiconductor industry but all along the value chain,” he explained.
Raising Status of EU Companies
People coming to the consortium include IC manufacturing tool makers and the material developers as well as design houses and material suppliers. Bonnetier said the consortium was encouraged to see the interest these groups had in the FAMES Pilot Line brought to the projects.
“They didn’t all only write a letter of support, they really discussed with us as to what this could bring for them in the long term or in the medium term…their letters were very specific about they wanted to do,” Noguet said. The consortium has 11 members, European public research institutions from an academic background including CEA-Leti, and from tech companies. They will review and select applicants’ proposals. Pricing will depend on the specifics of each R&D project.
The team is striving for European sovereignty for chip making and electronics. The overall goal of the EU Chips Act is to raise the level of production of chips, which currently sits at eight percent of global production; the initiative is hoping to raise that to 20 percent.
Funding Divided Between EU, Member Countries
Of the €830 million funding the consortium is receiving, half will come from European Union itself and the other half comes from the nations in which the consortium member companies are operating. The investment will be divided with approximately half available as a capital expenditure (CapEx) and the rest for operational expenses.
Consortium members offer industrial deposition or etching that would not be possible at a college.“The R&D service is worldwide but priority will be given to European semiconductor ecosystem stakeholders,” she said, to benefit European semiconductor sovereignty. They will offer embedded memories simulations to include testing the memory in the back end of the IC, so the overall power consumption can be tested.
The next leg of the offerings will be training with some technical workshops coming up in the winter. The first one, set for the last week in January 2026 in Grenoble, will be dedicated to designers that will cover how to boost performance with a low power consumption.
At the previous event, the consortium hosted about 100 attendees who were there either physically or remotely, representing a total of 25 countries. Noguet noted that at the networking cocktail, “people stayed. It was full house for over an hour and a half—-just talking to us about what they would need moving forward, to adopt these technologies. It was very interesting.”
The Open Access call comes with a two-month window for applications. For any application, the consortium will come back to the applicant to discuss the project. The consortium members will aim to find out what is needed and if they can help. They then start the process signing a license agreement for the work ahead, as well as a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Technical Support is available.