Baden-Württemberg attracts imec to lead development of chiplet-based technology for automotive applications
New partnership enables an innovative network together with academia and industry partners to strengthen digital sovereignty in Europe
LEUVEN (Belgium) and Hannover (Germany), March 31, 2025— Imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, and the State Government of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, today announced, at the Hannover Trade Fair, the launch of the Advanced Chip Design Accelerator (ACDA). The new imec competence center in Baden-Württemberg (Southwest of Germany) will develop state-of-the-art chiplet, packaging, system integration, sensing, and (edge) AI technology as part of imec’s Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP). By adding this complementary expertise to imec’s existing automotive R&D offering, the new competence center will be able to better support the local and international automotive industry in derisking and accelerating the introduction of automotive chiplets into manufacturing.
The Minister-Presidents of Baden-Württemberg and Flanders have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year to intensify the cooperation in the field of microelectronics. With the announcement today a big milestone has been reached in presence of Minister-President of Flanders Matthias Diependaele, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann and representatives of academia and industry.
The Advanced Chip Design Accelerator is part of a chip-design strategy of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg. The project is embedded in the European’s Commission strategy to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The competence center is financially supported by Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg with 40 million euros, initially for a period of five years. It will be located at the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI) in Heilbronn, Germany.
The new center’s objective responds to the emerging shift from traditional chip technologies towards chiplet-based compute architectures in automotive, a technology more suited to enabling demanding functionalities such as autonomous driving and enhanced in-cabin experience. Chiplets are modular chips specifically designed to perform specialized functions, facilitating rapid customization and upgrades, while reducing power consumption, development time and cost. The project also meets the strategic goal of the European Commission to launch the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance.
Furthermore, the State of Baden-Württemberg will support the chip-ecosystem with an additional 5 million euros for a network office and the support for scientific cooperation on chiplet technologies, headed by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
Luc Van den hove, President and CEO of imec: “We are excited to bring our expertise and global partner network to the state of Baden-Württemberg, the cradle of the automotive industry in Germany. We also look forward to expanding our collaboration with Fraunhofer to leverage on our complementary expertise and lay the foundation for future chiplet solutions. To realize the region's ambitions, we will also focus on growing the talent pipeline across Europe by training engineers in close collaboration with the local ecosystem, including universities. In addition, we aim to expand the developed high-performance computing solutions to the European level, thus contributing to the acceleration of innovation in the European automotive industry with unique and distinctive building blocks.”
Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann: “We are delighted to warmly welcome imec as a cutting-edge research institution with their new competence center in in Baden-Württemberg. As one of the most innovative regions in the world, with a strong automotive industry and with high expertise in AI, Baden-Württemberg and imec are a perfect match. A big thank you also goes to the Flemish government - today is a milestone in our cooperation. And with our innovative partners like the Fraunhofer Institute, KIT (Karlsruher Institute of Technology), CyberValley or University of Stuttgart and many other partners from academia and industry, we are boosting innovation for the new generation of automotive chips made in Europe. Strengthening our core competencies in chips, software and AI is crucial for Europe’s sovereignty.”
Minister-President of Flanders Matthias Diependaele: “A Flemish legacy, a global future. Imec, with its roots in Flanders, has a globally strong reputation in digital technology. This international collaboration with Baden-Württemberg is essential to maintaining imec's technological leadership. The groundbreaking innovation that this research hub demonstrates in various application areas only further strengthens the economic fabric for both regions."
Thomas Strobl, Deputy Minister President and Minister of the Interior, Digitalisation and Local Government of Baden-Württemberg: "Especially in these times we must strengthen Europe technologically and ensure our technological sovereignty. That is precisely what we are doing by establishing imec in Baden-Württemberg. The cluster will be a technology booster with an impact far beyond the region – strengthening Europe's technological sovereignty. Baden-Württemberg is Europe's powerhouse of innovation and, with the Innovation Park AI in Heilbronn, offers the best conditions. We owe this to the ingenuity and diligence, the courage and entrepreneurial spirit of the people in our state."
Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Minister of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of the State of Baden-Württemberg: “High-performance chips are playing an important role for software-driven applications in core industries in Baden-Württemberg and are increasingly shaping mobility, artificial intelligence and digitalization. With the establishment of imec in Baden-Württemberg, we are creating an internationally visible center of excellence that will significantly accelerate business-oriented research and development of chip-based innovations, particularly in the automotive industry, together with start-ups, industry and research in the region and beyond.”
Quote sheet
Bart Placklé, Vice President of Automotive Technologies at imec
"Thanks to imec's new competence center, imec’s Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP), a global pre-competitive, collaborative research effort to explore groundbreaking new chiplet architectures tailored to the unique needs of the automotive sector, will receive unparalleled expertise right here in Baden-Württemberg. By accelerating and derisking the path from technology development to implementation, we are poised to drive innovation and excellence in the industry.”
Moritz Gräter, CEO Innovation Park AI (IPAI)
“The announcement of imec's German headquarters in Baden-Württemberg at our IPAI SPACES in Heilbronn marks a significant milestone for our innovation platform. This expansion does not only significantly strengthen our existing ecosystem but also fortifies Europe's position across the entire AI value chain. At IPAI, imec will find all the necessary prerequisites, merging its expertise with data and industry insights from small and medium-sized enterprises, hidden champions, and global leaders in their fields. This partnership will enhance our community and improve opportunities and outcomes for future generations of innovative excellence.”
Prof. Reinhold R. Geilsdörfer, CEO Dieter Schwarz Foundation
"We are delighted that imec, a leading international chip research institute, will be coming to Heilbronn. This is of great importance for the further development of our diverse ecosystem and an asset for the research landscape that is currently being established."
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
“Chiplet technology is a key component for the next generation of semicon-ductors. We expect this new technology to fuel innovation across industries, be it automotive, aerospace or artificial intelligence.
In the recently launched APECS project, Research Fab Microelectronics Germany (FMD) has teamed up with European partners to develop the technological foundations for pilot production of chiplets. We believe that establishing a national chiplet center is the next logical step. Based on industry-specific boundary conditions, this is where we will analyze use cases together with companies, derive technological solutions and align the pilot line being estab-lished in the APECS projects with industry needs.
This will be a decisive milestone on the way to becoming an international leader in the development and production of chiplets and thus an important contribution to the technological sovereignty and economic strength of Germany and Europe. The close collaboration between research and industry across Europe, as exemplified by Fraunhofer, will enable us to optimally lever-age the innovative strength of chiplet technology. This will allow us to quickly transfer new developments into applications, thereby achieving a real compet-itive advantage on an international level.”
Jan S. Hesthaven, President of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
“Imec’s siting in Baden-Württemberg will significantly strengthen Germany and its microelectronics sector. It will particularly benefit the areas of mobility, medical engineering, robotics, and industry 4.0, to name a few. Baden-Württemberg with its numerous automotive companies and suppliers is an ideal customer-specific location for imec. Thanks to our long-standing collaboration, we at KIT know very well what valuable partner imec is. This siting will massively push both Germany’s and Europe’s strategic autonomy in the current geopolitical environment.”
Michael Budde, President Bosch Mobility Electronics
“Microelectronics has become indispensable in many industries. In Baden-Württemberg in particular, with its strong automotive sector, it is an important driver of innovation. The establishment of imec is very good news for the national semiconductor network and the European semiconductor industry as a whole. It links the regional automotive ecosystem with a world-leading, independent research institute with a high level of expertise in semiconductor design and integration. In addition, the establishment of imec strengthens semiconductor expertise in Baden-Württemberg and builds bridges between research and industrialization. imec and Bosch have been working together successfully on important strategic innovation topics since 2022.”
Dr. Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche AG
“As a manufacturer of exclusive sports cars, the development of customer-oriented software functions is of great importance to us. The use of chiplets will enable us to create brand-differentiating software solutions, and imec setting up in Baden-Württemberg gives us the opportunity to expand our cooperation with them. This means that we will be able to work together ever more closely on future-oriented and brand-differentiating software solutions.”
Christophe Périllat, Valeo’s Chief Executive Officer
"To meet the computing requirements for the Software-Defined Vehicle, an open and heterogeneous chiplet architecture promises to deliver a new level of cost and performance. That's why Valeo is a founding member of the Automotive Chiplet Program. Chiplet architectures will require new skills for automotive developers, which imec will now grow in the heartland of automotive history, Baden-Württemberg. Valeo, with its Mobility Tech Center near Stuttgart is thrilled by this initiative and will closely collaborate with the new team."
Dr. Thomas Stammler, Chief Technology Officer and member of the management of ZEISS SMT
"The strategic partnership between Imec and ZEISS emphasizes how close collaboration among European partners accelerates innovations and strengthens Europe's position in the semiconductor ecosystem. The semiconductor industry consists of a large network of partners, and only together is it possible to further advance the innovative technologies of tomorrow."
About imec
Imec is a world-leading research and innovation center in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Imec leverages its state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure and its team of more than 6.000 employees and top researchers, for R&D in advanced semiconductor and system scaling, silicon photonics, artificial intelligence, beyond 5G communications and sensing technologies, and in application domains such as health and life sciences, mobility, industry 4.0, agrofood, smart cities, sustainable energy, education, … Imec unites world-industry leaders across the semiconductor value chain, Flanders-based and international tech, pharma, medical and ICT companies, start-ups, and academia and knowledge centers. Imec is headquartered in Leuven (Belgium), and has research sites across Belgium, in the Netherlands, the UK and the USA, and representation in 3 continents. In 2023, imec's revenue (P&L) totaled 941 million euro.
Further information on imec can be found at www.imec-int.com.
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