The Chip Joint Undertaking (JU) launched the research and innovation (R&I) calls planned in the ECS (Electronic Components and Systems) part of the Work Programme 2026.
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The ECS (Electronic Components and Systems) part of the European Chips Joint Partnership Undertaking, ensures the continuity of the R&I activities of the Key Digital Technologies Partnership (KDT), combining co-financing from the European Union (EU) and co-financing from Participating States.
As in previous KDT calls, global (or “bottom-up”) topics will be covered in accordance with the Strategic Agenda for Research and Innovation in Electronic Components and Systems (ECS SRIA 2026).
In addition to global topics, there are also priority topics (“focus topics”) corresponding to areas of outstanding strategic importance for the Participating States, the EU and Private Members.
The Chips JU implements a multiannual Work Programme 2023-27. The ECS component of the 2026 Work Programme includes the following calls:
Horizon-Chips 2026-1-IA – Innovation Actions:
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-IA: IA Global IA call according to SRIA 2026
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-IA FT1:IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in power electronics
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-IA FT2: IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in photonics
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT3-IA: IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in health
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-IA-FT4:AI-assisted Methods and Tools for Software-Defined Vehicle Engineering Automation
Horizon-Chips 2026-2-RIA – Research and Innovation Actions:
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-1-RIA: Global RIA call according to SRIA 2026
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-2-RIA: RIA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in 6G radio communication systems
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-3-RIA *: Call with Digital Partnership and TTC countries
*This topic will be funded 100% by EU, without national co-funding
Horizon-Chips-2026-CSA** – Coordination and Support Action
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-CSA: Supply chain resilience
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-SDV-CSA: Preparing autonomous driving stack ecosystem building on next-generation SDV software and hardware computing architectures
** CSA: This topic will be funded 100% by EU, without national co-funding.
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National beneficiaries who coordinate or are partners in an international Chips JU consortium:
- Non-business entities of the R&I system (ENESII), also known as RTOs;
- Companies.
All national participations must include at least one Portuguese company. Applications that only include ENESII will not be considered eligible for national funding.
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- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-1-IA: IA Global IA call according to SRIA 2026 and HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-1-RIA: Global RIA call according to SRIA 2026, applications must be submitted in two phases:
- 1st phase: submission of Project Outline (PO) by 07 May 2026;
- 1st phase: submission of Project Outline (PO) by 07 May 2026.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT1-IA: IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in power electronics, HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT2-IA: IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in photonics, HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT3-IA: IA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in health, HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-2-RIA: RIA Resilience call reinforcing Europe's strength in 6G radio communication systems and HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-3-RIA: Call with Digital Partnership and TTC countries, applications will be submitted in a single phase FPP by 17 September 2026 (submission from 7 July 2026).
- Submission of proposals must be done electronically, through the EU proposal submission platform – Funding & Tenders opportunities. The links are available in Chips JU page (see “Important Links” below). For questions about the calls, including on the submission of applications, please contact Chips JU via email calls@chips-ju.europa.eu.
- Portuguese beneficiaries don't need to fill in the “National Part” (formerly “Part C”) of the application.
- To participate in Chips JU calls, it is not necessary to be a member of AENEAS, Inside or EPoSS associations.
- In these calls, the EC introduced the OCD (Ownership Control Declaration) process (see relevant information in the text of each call on the Chips JU page).
The information contained on this page only constitutes a summary of the call information and does not exempt you from carefully reading all the call documents available on this page and on the Chips JU website (see “Important Links” below).
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-1-IA: IA Global IA call according to SRIA 2026 and HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-1-RIA: Global RIA call according to SRIA 2026, applications must be submitted in two phases:
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The evaluation of applications submitted by international consortia will be carried out by panels of experts convened and organised by the Chips JU for each of the calls.
For each call, a ranking list of applications will be created resulting from the evaluation of the corresponding panel of experts.
It will be up to the Public Authorities Board of the Chips JU to decide which proposals in the ranking list will be selected for funding, i.e., placed in the main list, or placed in the reserve list.
Focus topics take precedence in the distribution of funding during the proposal selection process and may also, in some cases, receive higher EU co-funding rates compared to global topics (as indicated in the Work Programme).
The formal national co-financing decision will be taken later by each funding agency of each Participating State and subsequently communicated to the Chips JU, which, in turn, will transmit the results to the coordinators of each consortium.
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- FCT's financial commitment for the 2026 calls: 3.500.000,00€
- Maximum FCT co-financing per entity and per project: 250.000,00€
The national co-financing rates through FCT for the 2026 calls vary according to the type of action and the nature of the national entity, and are calculated on the basis on the eligible costs determined by the Chips JU:
- in Innovation Actions:
- Large Companies: 30%
- Small and Medium Businesses: 25%
- ENESII/RTOs: 65%
- Em Research and Innovation Actions:
- Large Companies: 25%
- Small and Medium Businesses: 30%
- ENESII/RTOs: 65%
The HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-3-RIA: Call with Digital Partnership and TTC countries, HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-CSA: Supply chain resilience and HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-SDV-CSA: Preparing autonomous driving stack ecosystem building on next-generation SDV software and hardware computing architectures calls will only receive public funding from the EU.
European Union co-financing rates, through the Chips JU, are indicated for each topic in the Work Programme.
The applicable Regulation to determine the eligibility of costs will be the Horizon Europe Regulation, and national beneficiaries are expected to report the execution of projects (including financial execution) to the Chips JU, in accordance with the terms of the Model Grant Agreement that will be signed between the beneficiaries and the Chips JU.
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Filipa Coelho