Chips Joint Undertaking

A National Strategy for Semiconductorsadopted by the Council of Ministers on December 7, 2023 and promulgated in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 12/2024 will guide, among other initiatives, national participation in the activities of the Chips Joint Undertaking Partnership.

The Chips Joint Undertaking (JU) is an institutionalized Horizon Europe partnership, also co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme for the period 2021 to 2027. Its members are the Participating States, the European Commission and three private associations(AENEAS, Inside and EPoSS) which mainly represent the industrial community and research organizations. Portugal is one of the Participating States of the Chips JU through the FCT, in conjunction with the National Innovation Agency (ANI).

With the entry into force of the European Chips Act(European Integrated Circuits Regulation), Chips JU replaces the Key Digital Technologies (KDT) Partnership, ensuring the continuity of its activities and implementation of its projects, but substantially expanding its scope. For more information on the European Integrated Circuits Regulation, particularly at a technical level, see the European Commission's Staff Working Document.

The main objectives of the JU Chips Partnership are to support research and innovation (R&I), as well as the design and production capacity, of electronic components and systems and photonics, including processors, sensors and other semiconductor-based devices, as well as their applications in a wide variety of sectors (health, automotive/mobility, energy, agri-food, industrial production, etc).

The Chips JU will be instrumental in implementing measures to strengthen Europe's leadership in the development, design and production of smaller, faster and more energy-efficient integrated circuits (chips), including the development of quantum integrated circuits.

In order to develop and strengthen chip design, production and integration and packaging capacities, support is provided for the development, upgrade and creation of new Pilot Lines and a Design Platformwhich will constitute Chips JU's main infrastructures.

The Chips JU will also contribute to training and retaining professionals with the necessary advancedskills in Europe. To this end, it is planned to set up a network of Competence Centers in the various Participating States which will also support access to the Chips JU infrastructure, particularly by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Chips JU is aligned with the twin green and digital transitions and contributes to the pursuit of the digital goals for 2030, enshrined in the "Digital Decade" vision.

The private members, represented through the three private associations indicated, make an important contribution to the Partnership by defining the ECS SRIA (Electronic Components and Systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda), which forms the basis for defining the R&I components of the Chips JU's annual work programs.

In accordance with the European Integrated Circuits Regulation, the implementation of the Chips JU will be operationalized through two components: the "non-Initiative" component, corresponding to the traditional KDT R&I Calls , and the "Initiative" component corresponding to the creation of capacities and infrastructures (Pilot Lines, Design Platform, Competence Centres, ...).

The activities of Chips JU will be co-financed by the European Union up to a maximum of €475 million via Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Program, with commensurate co-financing by the Participating States and a minimum participation by private members of €2511 million.

Chips JU will continue to include "focus topics" in its work programs.focus topics) that aim to respond to the urgent need to address weak links in Europe's innovation value chains and to contribute to the strategic objectives of the "Digital Decade".

The Chips JU should align itself in a complementary way with the EuroHPC JU Partnership in the area of high-performance computing, for example in the development of RISC-V processors and quantum computing.

There is also strong complementarity with the activities of Cluster 4 - Digital, Industry and Space, and the European Innovation Council (EIC) of Horizon Europe and with the Smart Networks and Services JU Partnership, in the area of communication networks, as well as with other European Commission initiatives, such as the Alliance on Processors and Semiconductor Technologies.

To improve financial support for companies (such as start-ups and SMEs) with start-up and scaling-up needs, a Chips Fundfunded through the Digital Europe Program.

The Chips JU Calls should also be seen in conjunction with the support opportunities for the European ECS (Electronic Systems and Components) community, made available through the Eureka Xecs Clusterwhose programmatic content is also associated with the ECS SRIA.

Previous Calls

KDT Calls 2021

Results of Calls KDT 2021 with FCT co-funding

Calls KDT 2022

Results of Calls KDT 2022 with FCT co-funding

Calls KDT 2023

Results of Calls KDT 2023 with FCT co-funding

For questions related to national participation in the ECSEL and KDT Calls , the Chips JU and Centro de Competências "non-Initiative" Calls , namely about the co-funding mechanism through FCT, please use the FCT contacts indicated below.