Imec €2.5B semiconductor expansion adds NanoIC sub-2nm pilot
Imec is scaling its R&D footprint and inaugurating a NanoIC pilot line to accelerate sub‑2nm and 3D system innovation under a roughly €2.5 billion European semiconductor push.
Imec expansion and NanoIC pilot overview
Imec, the Leuven-based semiconductor research hub, is expanding lab capacity and bringing a new NanoIC pilot line online to speed learning cycles for logic beyond 2nm and advanced 3D integration. The program is backed by a multi‑year, public–private investment package tied to Europe’s semiconductor industrial policy, with support from EU, national, regional, and industry partners. The goal is clear: shorten the path from materials and device research to system‑level demonstrators that de-risk future foundry nodes and packaging flows.
What sets the NanoIC pilot line apart
The NanoIC line is built to integrate leading-edge process modules—lithography, deposition, etch, metrology, and bonding—into system-technology co-optimization (STCO) flows. It aligns device, interconnect, packaging, and architecture decisions early, not as afterthoughts. Imec is staging High‑NA EUV lithography capability, advanced metrology and inspection, and a full 3D integration toolchain including hybrid bonding. Equipment and materials collaboration spans key suppliers across the value chain to mature modules such as backside power delivery and fine‑pitch die‑to‑wafer bonding at research speed.
Impact on telecom, AI, and edge efficiency
Power budgets and bandwidth needs in RAN, edge inference, and cloud AI are colliding. Sub‑2nm transistors, chiplets, and co‑packaged optics are the levers to hit energy targets for 5G/6G basebands, Open RAN accelerators, and next‑gen switches. Europe’s earlier gaps at leading nodes have narrowed in packaging and photonics; this pilot line tightens the loop between materials and deployable system blocks. For vendors and operators, this is about getting sooner access to manufacturable building blocks—ultra‑efficient logic tiles, memory stacks, and optical I/O—that cut TCO and footprint across networks and data centers.
Key sub-2nm and 3D integration technology tracks
The expansion concentrates on four intertwined vectors that will define competitiveness at and beyond 2nm.
High-NA EUV roadmap and sub-2nm logic nodes
Gate‑all‑around nanosheets remain the near‑term foundation, with forksheet and complementary FET (CFET) structures on the horizon. Expect intensive work on device variability, strain engineering, and contact resistance to extract performance without blowing up leakage. Backside power delivery, buried power rails, and novel power vias are central to reducing IR drop and freeing routing for signal integrity—critical in dense baseband and accelerator SoCs.
3D stacking, chiplets, and UCIe ecosystems
Heterogeneous integration is shifting from 2.5D interposers to direct hybrid bonding at micrometer and sub‑micrometer pitches. Logic‑on‑logic and logic‑to‑memory stacking will aim for higher bandwidth and lower energy per bit than organic packages can deliver. Expect ecosystem work around chiplet partitioning, thermal paths, and interface hardening aligned with open standards such as UCIe for die‑to‑die connectivity. For telecom and edge designs, this enables modular roadmaps that mix process nodes and IP blocks without monolithic die risk.
Next-gen interconnect materials and metrology
Interconnect resistance is the wall after 2nm. Imec’s flows explore alternative metals and liners, semi‑damascene approaches, air‑gap dielectrics, and ruthenium or cobalt-based stacks to tame RC delay. Equally important are inline metrology, computational lithography, and AI‑assisted process control from suppliers such as KLA and others to manage defectivity and variability as features shrink and stacks thicken.
Silicon photonics and co-packaged optics
Optical I/O is moving closer to compute. Work on silicon photonics, modulators, lasers, and packaging integration underpins 800G and 1.6T transceivers and paves a route to co‑packaged optics with switches and accelerators. For transport and data center fabrics, this is the path to headroom without unsustainable power draw or faceplate congestion.
EU funding, ecosystem, and partner alignment
The initiative leans on Europe’s policy toolkit and deep collaboration across equipment, materials, EDA, foundries, and system companies.
EU Chips Act-aligned public–private funding
The approximately €2.5 billion program aligns with EU semiconductor initiatives, including instruments such as the EU Chips Act and IPCEI on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies, to strengthen Europe’s supply resilience and know‑how at the leading edge. Regional support, notably in Flanders, complements industry in‑kind tools and cash, reflecting a shared aim to compress time‑to‑learning and anchor critical capabilities in Europe.
Toolmaker, EDA, and foundry collaborations
Imec’s model integrates modules from key suppliers across lithography, deposition, etch, and inspection to validate full flows—think High‑NA EUV from ASML, advanced process kits from Applied Materials, Lam Research, and Tokyo Electron, and metrology from KLA, among others. On the design side, partnerships with Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens EDA enable DTCO and STCO at scale. Imec’s long‑standing ties with global foundries and IDMs ensure research outputs map to manufacturable options.
Operator and vendor takeaways
Near‑term engagement can translate the pilot line’s outputs into differentiated products and lower lifecycle cost.
12–18 month strategic actions
Engage early through multi‑party projects to validate partitioning strategies for chiplets and 3D stacks tied to UCIe and CXL roadmaps. Prioritize designs that pair sub‑2nm logic chiplets with mature‑node I/O, RF, and power management to balance cost and yield. For RAN and edge AI, co-design acceleration blocks with backside power delivery assumptions to hit energy per inference targets. Begin photonics PDK evaluations for 800G and 1.6T transitions and map paths to co‑packaged optics. Strengthen design‑technology co‑optimization workflows in EDA to model thermal, signal integrity, and reliability for stacked assemblies.
Risks and indicators to watch
Watch High‑NA EUV tool delivery and uptime, backside power maturity, and hybrid bonding yield and throughput. Track IPCEI funding calls, project awards, and cross‑border collaboration frameworks. Monitor export control regimes that could affect tool availability, as well as energy and water policies that influence fab operations. From a product perspective, keep an eye on chiplet interoperability progress, photonics laser integration, and packaging supply capacity in Europe.
About imec
The organization’s scale and reach underpin its role as a pre‑competitive R&D anchor for the semiconductor industry.
Scale, sites, and revenue
Imec employs more than 6,500 people and reported €1.034 billion in revenue in 2024. Headquartered in Leuven, it operates research facilities across Belgium and in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK, Spain, and the United States, with representation across three continents. Through IC‑Link, imec supports companies from concept through manufacturing, offering design enablement and access to foundry and packaging ecosystems across compute, health, automotive, energy, industry, and security markets.
Why imec is pivotal for next-gen silicon
For telecom, cloud, and semiconductor leaders, imec provides a neutral ground to de‑risk next‑gen nodes, packaging, and photonics before committing to high‑volume manufacturing. The new NanoIC pilot line raises that value—converting policy ambition and supplier innovation into tested modules and system demonstrators that shorten time to competitive, energy‑efficient silicon.
