Stimulation of Chip Design
Funding for a Chip Design Skills Programme to train 1,000+ students with hands-on tape-out experience across Europe.
This call supports a comprehensive chip design skills programme. It aims to provide practical chip design experience to students at multiple education levels. The goal is to build a sustainable pipeline of chip design talent in Europe.
Likely relevant for
- Universities and educational institutions
- Organizations involved in semiconductor education and training
- Consortia aiming to develop chip design skills programmes
- Entities focused on STEM education and reskilling
Project signals
What it funds
- Comprehensive Chip Design Skills Programme
- Hands-on tape-out experiences via multi-project wafers
- Education integration at university and secondary school levels
- Reskilling pathways for students from adjacent fields
Expected outcomes
- At least 1,000 students completing funded tape-outs over 4 years
- Practical chip design experience integrated into education
- Stronger reskilling pathways for adjacent field students
- Sustainable continent-wide pipeline of chip design talent
Who can apply / participate
- Universities
- Research organizations
- Educational institutions
- Consortia including multiple partners
- Check specific consortium requirements in call documents
- Eligible countries as specified in call documents
- Must comply with admissibility conditions such as proposal page limits and layout
- At least 60% of budget must support hands-on tape-out experiences
- Exact eligible countries and consortium size requirements must be verified in official call documents
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility criteria regarding countries and applicant types
- Budget allocation requirements (at least 60% for tape-out experiences)
- Proposal page limits and submission details
Money
Total budget up to €15 million for 2026 with one expected grant.
- Total budget — 15000000EURMaximum contribution for the grant
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model.
- Proposal page limits and layout as per Part B of Application Form
- Eligibility and admissibility conditions detailed in Appendix 8 of Work Programme
- Call documents include application form, guide for applicants, evaluation form, and legal documents
- Prepare proposal according to guidelines
- Submit via Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline
- Contact calls@chips-ju.europa.eu for support
- Ensure at least 60% of budget supports hands-on tape-out experiences
- Verify eligibility criteria carefully before submission
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:11 UTC. Use this as a shortlisting aid; the official call text remains authoritative.
Official source text
Fine print from the EU source record. Expand when you need the original wording.
Topic description
Expected Outcome: Practical chip design experience integrated into education at multiple levels; at least 1,000 students across Europe completing funded tape-outs over 4 years; stronger reskilling pathways for students from adjacent fields; and a sustainable, continent-wide pipeline of chip design talent to support Europe's semiconductor ambitions. Scope: This call funds a comprehensive Chip Design Skills Programme to lower barriers to entry in chip design and tape-outs. At least 60% of the budget must support hands-on tape-out experiences (via multi-project wafers) for university and secondary school students.
Conditions and documents
Conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
The proposal page limits and layout is described in Part B of the Application Form, which can be accessed on the Chips JU website's Call page
The following information are all described in the Appendix 8 of Work Programme - Chips for Europe Initiative
2. Eligible countries
3. Other eligibility conditions
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Call document and annexes:
The Call Documents Section contains all the call documents, as follows:
Additional documents:
Support information
For help related to this call, please contact calls@chips-ju.europa.eu Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals . IT Helpdesk – Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.
Raw budget overview
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"action": "DIGITAL-JU-CHIPS-2026-SKILLS-SCD-CSA - DIGITAL-JU-CSA DIGITAL JU Coordination and Support Actions",
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"minContribution": 1000000,
"maxContribution": 15000000,
"budgetYearMap": {
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"plannedOpeningDate": "2026-07-07",
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