Chips Joint Undertaking

The Portuguese Strategy for Semiconductors adopted by the Council of Ministers on December 7, 2023 and promulgated in the Resolution of the Council of Minister No. 12/2024 will guide, among other initiatives, the Portuguese participation in the Chips Joint Undertaking Partnership.

The Chips Joint Undertaking (JU) is an institutionalized Horizon Europe partnership, co-funded also by the Digital Europe Programme established for the period 2021 to 2027 between Participating States, the European Comission and private associations(AENEAS, Inside and EPoSS) representing the industry and research organizations. Portugal is one of the Participating States of the Chips JU through the FCT, in collaboration with the National Innovation Agency (ANI).

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

The main objectives of this Partnership consist in supporting research and innovation, and the design and production capabilities for electronic components and systems and photonics, including processors, sensors and other semiconductor-based devices, along with its applications in a diverse range of sectors (healthcare, automotive/mobility, energy, agri-food, manufacturing, etc.).

The Chips JU will be instrumental in the implementation of measures that aim at strengthening the European leadership leading to the development, design and production of smaller, faster and energetically more efficient chips, including the development of quantum chips.

In order to develop and reinforce the capabilities to design, manufacture and integration and package chips, it is expected that there will be support to the development, upgrade and creation of new Pilot Lines and a Design Platform,which will constitute the main infrastructures of the CHIPS JU.

The Chips JU will also contribute to teach, train and retain in Europe professionals with the necessary advanced digital skills. For that purpose, it is expected that a network of Competence Centers will be established across several Participating States, which will also support the access to the Chips JU infrastructures, namely by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

The Chips JU aligns with the green and digital twin-transitions and contributes to the achievement of the digital goals for 2030 enshrined in the "Digital Decade" vision.

The private members, represented through the three private associations indicated above, make an important contribution to the Partnership through the definition of the ECS SRIA (Electronic Components and Systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda), which constitutes the basis for definition of the Research and Innovation components of the annual  Chips JU's work programmes.

According to the Regulation, the implementation of the Chips JU will be operationalised through two components: the "non-Initiative" component, corresponding to the traditional KDT R&I calls, and the "Initiative" component corresponding to capacity building and infrastructures (Pilot Lines, Design Platform, Competence Centres, …).

In the period 2021-2027, the Chips JU activities will be co-funded by the European Union up to 4175M€ through Horizon Europe (HE) and the Digital Europe Programme (DEP), with a commensurate co-funding by Participating States, and a minimum participation of private members of 2511M€.

The Chips JU will continue to include focus topics that aim at addressing the urgency of bridging weak links in innovation value chains in Europe and contributing to the strategic objectives of the “Digital Decade”.

The Chips JU Partnership should complement the EuroHPC JU in the area of high performance computing, for example in the development of RISC-V processors and quantum computers. 

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

To increase the financial support to companies (such as startups and SMEs) in need of starting and scaling-up their activities, a Chips Fund will be established and funded through the Digital Europe Programme.

Chips JU's calls should also be seen in conjunction with the opportunities to support 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

2021 KDT Calls

Results of the 2021 KDT Calls with FCT co-funding

2022 KDT Calls

Results of 2022 KDT Calls with FCT co-funding

2023 KDT Calls

Results from Calls KDT 2023 with FCT co-funding

For questions related to the Portuguese participation on ECSEL and KDT calls, the participation on CHIPS JU "non-Initiative" calls and the Competence Centre, namely about the co-funding mechanism through FCT, please use the FCT contacts indicated below.