About

The Chips Competence Center KIIP is a strategically important project for Estonia, established under the European Union Chips Act. The Center is part of the pan-European network of chips competence centers, strengthening the EU’s position in the global technology race. The main goal of the Center is to support companies, particularly SMEs and startups, in developing their chip design capabilities and upgrading their skills.

The aim is to support dozens of new and already active companies in technology transfer related to chip design solutions, thereby helping to strengthen the global competitiveness of Estonian companies. The Center will be a key link in the European network of chips competence centers, providing specialized knowledge and services across the European chip sector. Estonia has strong IT, software, and hardware competencies, which support the development of innovative chips for product development purposes.

The Chip Center supports companies in chip design and organizing pilot production, offering them the necessary know-how and network.

The Chip Center will focus on three main types of companies:

• Fabless chip companies (companies that design chips but do not manufacture them themselves)
• Companies providing chip design services
• Technology companies developing their own application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) or electronic devices

More specifically, the Chip Center will focus on chip design and at the European level will provide support in three main areas:

• Hardware security — protecting chips from cyber attacks
• Chip testing and safety — ensuring quality and reliability
• Functional verification — verifying that chip design meets specifications

The Center’s design expertise is based on the RISC-V open-source processor architecture, which all companies can use and adapt freely, on open EDA (electronic design automation software that is freely accessible and modifiable), and on artificial intelligence chip design. These open platforms enable companies to develop innovative solutions without large license fees.

The Center’s activities are substantially co-funded by the CHIPS JU project KIIP for the first four years. The total project budget is €2.4 million, funded equally by the European Union’s Digital Europe Programme and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. EU funding lasts for four years, after which the goal of the Chip Center is to become an independent and sustainable entity that meets the state’s expectations for government-owned companies and can finance its activities through revenue from services and additional projects. The project is coordinated by EIS, with Metrosert and the Estonian Electronics Industries Association (EETL) as partners.