The EU invests €700 million in the largest Chips Act pilot line, NanoIC

The EU has opened NanoIC, its largest ‘pilot line’ for advanced chip research and early manufacturing at IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, a facility meant to help turn lab breakthroughs into production-ready semiconductor processes. The project’s total budget is €2.5 billion, with €700 million from the EU, €700 million from national and regional governments, and the remaining € 1.1 billion from ASML and other industry partners, according to the Commission’s announcement.

What makes NanoIC notable is the equipment and the technical target. The site is described as the first EU facility to deploy the most advanced EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machine, and it will focus on chip design and manufacturing techniques beyond the ‘2 nanometre’ generation, the leading edge of miniaturisation where performance and energy-efficiency gains become harder and more expensive to achieve.

Unlike a conventional research lab, a pilot line is designed as a near-industrial testbed: companies and researchers can trial new chip designs, tooling, and process steps at a realistic scale before committing to mass production. NanoIC is structured around ‘low-barrier’ access and explicitly lists who it is built for: start-ups, SMEs, universities and design/system companies (for early prototyping and access to process design kits), as well as foundries, integrated device manufacturers, and equipment/materials suppliers testing process innovations.

The project is also a cross-border consortium effort, in which IMEC hosts the line, while the NanoIC partnership includes CEA-Leti (France), Fraunhofer (Germany), VTT (Finland), CSSNT (Romania), and Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute, supported by a broader network of competence centres. Funding for acquisition and operation is linked to the Chips Joint Undertaking, drawing on the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe, as well as contributions from participating states.

NanoIC sits inside the EU’s broader European Chips Act, a package adopted after the global chip shortage exposed how disruptions can ripple into everything from cars to medical devices. The Chips Act entered into force on 21 September 2023 and is framed around strengthening the EU semiconductor ecosystem, reducing dependencies, and pursuing a ‘Digital Decade‘ goal of doubling Europe’s global chip market share to 20% by 2030. It operates through three main strands: a capacity-building and innovation track (‘Chips for Europe,’ including five pilot lines), measures to attract investment and expand production, and a monitoring/crisis-response mechanism for supply shocks

Why does it matter?

Major economies are pursuing ‘tech sovereignty,’ so chips are increasingly treated as strategic infrastructure. Given that advanced chipmaking is concentrated in a few regions and is expensive to replicate, NanoIC is meant to reduce risk for next-generation processes by letting the EU researchers and firms test designs and manufacturing methods at near-industrial scale through a shared, open-access facility, strengthening the EU’s resilience in global supply chains without implying it can catch up alone.