Estonian Chips Competence Centre for Knowledge transfer in Innovative Integrated circuits and Processes

ongoing

The general aim of this project is to establish a chips competence centre in Estonia to provide consulting and support services for the local and the EU’s chip industry. The focus is on supporting establishment of startups in the chip domain and supporting SMEs in acquiring the required competences. The ambition of the KIIP project is to establish an Estonian national Chips Competence Centre that will support the knowledge and growth of three types of companies: • Fabless chip companies (companies that produce chips but do not own manufacturing facilities), • Companies offering chip design services in their transition to the fabless sector, and • Technology companies developing their own Application Specific ICs (ASICs) or electronic devices. These companies will be supported by consulting and support services in digital and mixed/signal IC design, implementation and tape-out. The emphasis of this design competence lies in RISC-V based open-source architectures, open EDA as well as the design of AI chips. In addition, the competence centre specialises in 3 focus areas: > Hardware security > IC/system test and safety > Functional verification These are areas, where Estonia continues to be at the forefront of European research and innovation landscape by a sustained track-record of coordinating several pan-European actions and involvement of related top-level research groups and innovative companies. Support on these Focus Areas will be offered to the partners within the European Network of Competence Centres.