EU launches €525M platform to back European chip design start-ups

The European Commission on Wednesday launched the European Chip Design Platform, which will invest €525M to help start-ups and small companies design their own chips. Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, presented the plan.

“The European Design Platform gives our chip start-ups and SMEs the support they need to overcome the barriers to turn their innovative ideas into silicon. It shows how Europe is ready to act on its technological sovereignty goals, not only through policy and promises, but also by investing in our future,” Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said.

Most of the money, €440m, will be paid out as grants, while the remaining €85m will fund the platform itself. The EU budget provides €285m, and participating countries add €240m.

Early-stage start-ups can apply for up to €100,000 to build their first prototypes. More advanced companies can get up to €16m to cover the cost of taking a chip to market.

Beyond grants, the platform gives companies access through the cloud to chip design software and to IP blocks, which are ready-made circuit designs that can be reused in new chips. It also offers design support and access to manufacturing capacity.

These are often the most expensive and hardest things for young companies to get, the Commission said. Belgian research centre imec leads the group of partners running the platform, and 20 start-ups already take part in its programme to prepare companies for market.

The Commission wants more chips to be designed in Europe. European companies earn less than 1% of global revenue from chip design, it said, and new European chip factories will need local customers to stay busy.

“We know that Europe can’t strengthen our position in the global semiconductor industry if we don’t succeed in chip design,” Virkkunen said, according to Reuters.

The platform falls under the EU Chips Act, which aims to give Europe more control over its chip supply. It also adds to national efforts, such as a German and Dutch €40m challenge to use AI to design AI chips.

Work on the platform began in 2025, when imec started coordinating the consortium behind it. Start-ups and small and medium-sized companies that design their own chips can apply through the platform.