Braga, Portugal, Jan. 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), based in Braga, in northern Portugal, announced on Monday that it has joined one of the "pilot lines" set up under the European Chip Act, with the aim of increasing research and innovation projects in the field of semiconductors, to help boost production in the European Union.
According to a statement released today by INL, this involves "participating as a key partner in the Advanced Packaging and Heterogeneous Integration of Electronic Components and Systems (APECS), one of the Pilot Lines of the EU Chips Act."
The act is "a strategic initiative of the European Union to strengthen semiconductor production capacity in Europe," it recalls, adding that the APECS pilot line is coordinated by Germany's Fraunhofer Foundation and "co-financed by the Chips Joint Undertaking, in collaboration with funding authorities from various European countries, including Portugal.
"The APECS Pilot Line seeks to assert European leadership in heterogeneous integration and advanced encapsulation technologies - one of the most important areas in the development of innovative electronic devices," explains the statement.
According to the INL, "APECS will support research and innovation projects aimed at maintaining Europe's position at the forefront of scientific and technological development, with the aim of increasing Europe's share of the global semiconductor market from 8 per cent to 20 per cent by 2030.
"The growing demand for electronic devices and the interruption of specialised production during the pandemic have highlighted the need to guarantee the response capacity of European semiconductor production chains," it adds.
In addition to the APECS Pilot Line, the INL is also set to play a crucial role in other EU Chips Act initiatives, most notably the coordination of the Competence Centre in Portugal.
INL is also involved in the ‘EU Chips Act Design Platform’ coordinated by Belgium's imec, which it recalls is to "provide access to design tools, intellectual property libraries and standardisation instruments, seeking to boost semiconductor design capacity in Europe.
"INL's strategic participation in APECS and other initiatives is in line with the National Strategy for Semiconductors," it adds.
Ricardo Ferreira, leader of the Spintronics research group at the INL, expressed the hope that "the Pilot Line will be a catalyst for many other initiatives and not an end in itself.
"The APECS Pilot Line should certainly have a profound effect on the future of the research carried out at INL, but we all hope that its impact will be much greater and will also be felt in the academic community, start-ups, innovative companies and large companies based in the country," he said.
INL, a joint Spanish-Portuguese venture, is the only intergovernmental organisation in the EU fully dedicated to nanotechnology research.
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