Imec: €2.5 Billion into European Silicon

On February 9, 2026, research center imec launched the NanoIC pilot line worth €2.5 billion. The goal is to develop next-generation chip architectures specifically tailored for AI workloads.

This is Europe's strategic response to US and Asian dominance. The line will allow testing of prototypes that will only go into mass production in 2-3 years. For the AI industry, this means the emergence of specialized hardware capable of reducing data center energy consumption by orders of magnitude.

Source: imec / Reuters