EU and South Korea launch joint chip research projects
The European Union and the Republic of Korea have announced four jointly funded projects to boost innovation in semiconductors. The partners will invest €6 million each in the scheme.
The aim of the initiative is bring together research and innovation specialists from both the EU and the Republic of Korea. It will involve setting up joint research teams, shared access to cutting-edge facilities and frequent knowledge exchange through workshops and conferences. The consortia, set to operate until June 2027, will be comprised of 11 research institutes from Korea and 14 institutes from nine European countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain.
These four three-year projects will be co-funded by the Chips Joint Undertaking under Horizon Europe, and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). They are:
- Energize – developing brain-like circuits that use two-dimensional materials. The circuits can handle AI tasks effectively without needing centralised data centres
- Nehil – developing a laser-based radar system that integrates different technologies to measure distances with high precision
- Haetae – developing brain-like chips that use light in their circuitry to process AI tasks
- Vitfox – upgrading AI that processes visual data by using special materials such as ferroelectric oxides
The EU-ROK Digital Partnership was announced in November 2022, and in June 2023 the European Union and the Republic of Korea held the first Digital Partnership council in Seoul. Here, the partners agreed to work on semiconductors, high performance computing (HPC) and quantum technology, 5G, the platform economy, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
"With the South Korea-EU joint research, brilliant semiconductor researchers will be able to create a cooperation network to secure key technologies essential to take the lead in the chips industry," Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said in a statement.
