Switzerland announces three year SwissChips initiative
Europe's neutral country has unveiled a new $38m programme to boost research and innovation in semiconductors, microelectronics and IC design.
Switzerland is taking action to boost its own chip-related R&D and production in the face of the increasing moves towards 'digital sovereignty' all over the world. The country is not a member of the EU, so it is excluded from the bloc's schemes such as Horizon and the new Digital Europe programme. It also has to compete with the increased on-shoring activities of the US, China and India.
Hence this new SwissChips initiative. It was launched by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microelectronics (CSEM), EPFL and ETH Zurich. SwissChips will run for three years with SERI contributing USD 29 million and the remaining stakeholders USD 9 million.
The SwissChips founders say its infrastructure and technology will be available to all Swiss universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions.
