Research and Development
Hannover Messe – Belgian Chip Research Institute IMEC to set up Innovation Hub in Heilbronn
Belgian nanoelectronics and digital technology research organization Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) has announced plans to establish an auto chip development center in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg. Working with German auto manufacturers and suppliers and research partners in the region, IMEC will develop semiconductor chips for the auto industry.
Mar 31, 2025
Internationally renowned research institute Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) has chosen Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg as the site of its Advanced Chip Design Accelerator (ACDA) hub to develop world-class chips for the auto industry.
The Baden-Württemberg state government symbolically opened the proposed center at a ceremony attended by Winfried Kretschmann and Matthias Diependaele, the minister presidents of Baden-Württemberg and Flanders respectively, on the inaugural day of this year’s Hannover Messe. They were joined by IMEC CEO and president, Luc Van den hove, and European Commission Director General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Kerstin Jorna, as well as representatives from partners including Bosch, Fraunhofer Society, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Porsche. The ACDA hub, which will receive EUR 40 million in funding from the southwestern German state, will be built on the 23-hectare AI Innovation Park – Europe’s largest applied AI center –scheduled to begin construction at the end of the year.
Founded in 1984 in Flanders in order to strengthen the microelectronics industry in the Flemish region, IMEC is considered to be the world’s largest independent research and innovation center for nanoelectronics and digital technology. Up to 70 new posts will be created for researchers at the ACDA.
IMEC has signed up a host of auto industry manufacturers and suppliers – including BMW, Bosch, Porsche, and Siemens – to the project to promote world-class chip development within Germany’s automotive sector. Baden-Württemberg, as the birthplace of the automotive industry, and IMEC have established the joint initiative to support the domestic and international auto industry evaluate automotive chiplet architectures and packaging technologies for high-performance computing requirements with strict safety requirements. Chiplet technologies represent a disruptive shift away from monolithic chipsets to modular chiplets for more powerful advanced driver assistance and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
“IMEC’s decision to situate its auto chip innovation hub in the birthplace of modern motoring is a timely and welcome endorsement of Germany’s automotive sector and a sign that the country has a key role to play in securing Europe’s silicon sovereignty on the way to smarter, safer and more advanced mobility” said Robert Hermann, Germany Trade & Invest CEO.
The European Union is seeking to increase its global semiconductor production share from 10 percent to at least 20 percent by 2030, with EUR 43 billion in funding assigned to strengthening European development and production.
