Leuven-based research centre imec and the German state government of Baden-Württemberg will jointly establish a new chip research centre for the automotive sector. The project was launched on Monday at a press event during the Hannover Trade Fair.
The new centre, named the Advanced Chip Design Accelerator (ACDA), will be set up at the Innovation Park AI in Heilbronn – a city 50 km north of Stuttgart. The Baden-Württemberg government is funding the project, worth 40 million euros, for at least the next five years.
The aim is to carry out research on new chiplet architectures for automotive applications at the centre. This includes developing sensor and AI technology for smart, self-driving cars.
As the “cradle” of the automotive industry in Germany, Baden-Württemberg is the “perfect region” to cooperate with, the partners stated. The investment also fits in with Europe’s plans to become less dependent on other continents for semiconductor production. Imec plays a central role in that European strategy.
Supercomputers on wheels
“This is a confirmation of our position in the European technology world,” said Luc Van den hove, imec’s CEO. “Cars are increasingly becoming supercomputers on wheels. Chiplets are considered a technology that makes this transition possible.” Chiplets are modular chips with specialised functions like computing and data storage.
“The ties between Flanders and Baden-Württemberg will be strengthened,” added Flemish minister-president Matthias Diependaele, present in Hannover. “Today’s social challenges require bold solutions: we will only succeed if we work together.”
Recruitment for the centre could start soon, Van den hove said. By the end of the year, the CEO intends to have recruited about twenty people, and in a few years’ time there should be fifty to one hundred people working there.
