Just months after unveiling plans for a new automotive chiplet innovation hub in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, imec has inaugurated its office at the IPAI campus in Heilbronn.

During the opening ceremony, Winfried Kretschmann, Baden-Württemberg’s minister-president, and Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, minister of economic affairs, and labour and tourism, joined imec CEO Luc Van den hove to highlight the importance of imec’s growing presence in the region. It reaffirms its long-term commitment to advancing automotive chiplet technology in close partnership with German industry and research partners.

Based in Southwest Germany, imec’s Heilbronn hub is dedicated to cutting-edge chiplet design, advanced packaging, system integration, sensing, and (edge) AI – as part of imec’s broader Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP).

Since its launch in March, the first employees have been onboarded. By 2030, imec’s team in Baden-Württemberg is expected to grow to 70 experts.

The Heilbronn hub is also a core partner in CHASSIS, a new European CHIPS JU project dedicated to heterogeneous integration for automotive high-performance computing (HPC), The project’s goal is to develop a modular, scalable hardware platform for software-defined vehicles that meets stringent industrial requirements – thereby boosting the competitiveness of Europe’s automotive sector while strengthening its technological sovereignty.

imec has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Technical University Munich (Prof. Hussam Amrouch, chair of AI Processor Design and head of the Munich Advanced-Technology Center for High-Tech AI Chips MACHT-AI), with the goal to set up knowledge sharing, training and hands-on development of advanced chip designs and advanced packaging for the Baden-Württemberg ecosystem.

“With the opening of our German office, an expanding team, and our active participation in the CHASSIS project, imec and its partners are reinforcing Baden-Württemberg’s innovation ecosystem while accelerating the shift towards chiplet-based architectures within the automotive industry,” says Van den hove, CEO of imec. “And there is more to come. Over time, we aim to extend this support to other sectors as well – an essential step towards strengthening Europe’s semiconductor sovereignty. It is a clear example of how local impact and international relevance go hand in hand.

“To build on this momentum, we chose the IPAI campus to host this week’s Automotive Chiplet Forum – bringing together over 100 delegates from dozens of companies across the automotive value chain to explore pre-competitive collaboration in chiplet innovation – right here in the birthplace of the automobile,” he adds.