New competence center for chips: South Austria benefits until 2025

New competence center for chips: South Austria benefits until 2025

In a pioneering decision, the EU recently approved the start of a new competence center for chips in southern Austria, which is scheduled to go into operation from January 1, 2025. Robert Gfrerer, the CEO of the Silicon Alps Cluster (SAC) and initiator of the Austrian Chips Competence Center (AT-C³), said that a total of eight million euros are provided for the development of the ELECTRONIC & SOFTWARE Based Systems (ESBS). Of this, four million euros come from the "European Chips Act", while the other half is financed by the Austrian research development company FFG.

This project is part of a larger European strategy that aims to increase the proportion of chips produced in Europe by 2030 from the current 10 to 20 percent. Gfrerer explained that the global chip requirement will double in the same period of time, which requires enormous growth of production capacities.

innovation centralization

The new competence center will concentrate on the development and design of chips. Billions are to be invested in various pilot projects in countries such as Italy, Germany and France to facilitate access to these resources for small and medium-sized companies and start-ups. Henrietta Egerth, the managing director of the FFG, emphasizes that this creates a new central player that will drive innovations in the native semiconductor industry.

Gernot Eder, the project manager, explained that the financing is to be improved by the provision of projects that are 80 percent promoted. Training offers will also be part of the initiative, since an additional need for around 370,000 specialists in the industry is expected by 2030.

The organization and its goal

The headquarters of the competence center will be in Graz, but employees from Villach and Klagenfurt will also be involved in the project. The consortium, in which Silicon Austria Labs (SAL), the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), the Materials Center Leoben (MCL), the Polymer Competence Center Leoben (PCCL) and the Technical University of Graz are represented, will offer research and development services in the field of microelectronics, thin-layers and advanced materials. The aim is to create a kind of "one-stop store" for the entire value chain, which will not only be accessible to Styria and Carinthia, but will be accessible to all of Austria.

The program is designed for a term of four years and is aiming to start operational projects in the first year. More than half of the funding should be reserved especially for start-ups and small and medium-sized companies. This makes it an important step for the regional industry and the entire Austrian innovation ecosystem.

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