Strategic alignment between imec and Japan’s ASRA aims to harmonize standardization of automotive chiplet architectures

LEUVEN (Belgium), DECEMBER 16, 2025 — Today, imec – a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies – announced a strategic alignment initiative with Japan’s Advanced SoC Research for Automotive (ASRA), aimed at harmonizing the standardization of chiplet architectures for automotive applications. Imec and ASRA have agreed to jointly explore and promote shared architecture specifications, giving partners confidence that the technologies they develop will be scalable, interoperable, and widely adoptable. As a first milestone, the initiative aims to deliver a joint public specification document – consolidating shared elements – by mid-2026.

Chiplet technology is set to revolutionize automotive system design. Rather than relying on rigid, monolithic chip architectures, it leverages modular building blocks to create systems that are more powerful, efficient, and flexible, while cutting costs and development time. The automotive industry clearly recognizes this potential: it is no longer a question of if chiplets will enter the market, but when.

Yet, for chiplets to scale, and strengthen supply chain resilience, seamless interoperability between components from different vendors is essential. Achieving this requires shared reference architectures and standardized interfaces – an area where the ecosystem is beginning to face challenges. 

“Paradoxically, we’re seeing more chiplet standards emerge than actual implementations,” said Bart Placklé, vice president of imec’s automotive technologies. “As the chiplet ecosystem expands, alignment and strong cross-industry collaboration will be critical to achieve economies of scale and accelerate commercial adoption.”

In a push for greater synergy, imec and ASRA today announced a strategic alignment initiative, bringing together two leading automotive chiplet efforts. It is a move that brings critical momentum to harmonizing the standardization of chiplet architectures in the automotive sector: imec’s automotive chiplet program (ACP) currently connects nearly 20 international partners across the value chain, while ASRA unites top Japanese OEMs – along with their key suppliers and semiconductor related companies.

Bart Placklé: “ACP and ASRA share a common goal: to accelerate and de-risk chiplet adoption by promoting interoperability, reliability, and scalability. By committing to jointly explore and promote shared architecture specifications, and build on each other’s work, we can give partners the confidence that the technologies they develop will be scalable and widely adoptable. We believe this early convergence will reduce confusion and uncertainty in the market and help accelerate real-world deployments. It’s a win-win for all stakeholders – and we hope this collaboration sparks a broader snowball effect across the industry.”

Nobuaki Kawahara, Executive Director: “Imec and ASRA will jointly create and publish a new requirements specification document (“Joint Document”) for automotive chiplets. This collaboration will benefit both imec's ACP partners and ASRA members, supporting future industry standardization. Currently, each OEM has different powertrains, vehicle variants, and electronic platforms. This approach will enable the provision of optimal SoCs for electronic platforms through chip combinations. We are confident this partnership will yield outstanding results and lead to the realization of a future automotive chiplet ecosystem.”