Leuven, Belgium — February 9, 2026, 18:19 CET
- Belgium’s imec research centre has launched the NanoIC pilot line, aiming to advance chip technology past the 2-nanometre barrier.
- The EU announced it is allocating €700 million, with national and regional governments contributing an equal amount.
- ASML’s High-NA EUV lithography tool is set to arrive mid-March at the facility, where it will undergo near-industrial testing ahead of mass production.
Belgian chip research outfit imec opened NanoIC on Monday, a pilot line in Leuven funded with €2.5 billion to push chip development past the 2-nanometre barrier. This comes as Europe aims to close the gap in the tech powering today’s AI surge.
European policymakers and industry are stepping up efforts to close the gap with the US and Asia in cutting-edge chip technology. While Europe excels in chipmaking equipment—highlighted by Dutch lithography giant ASML—it accounts for just a small portion of high-end semiconductor design and production.
NanoIC aims to provide companies and researchers a platform to trial new chip designs, equipment, and manufacturing steps at near-industrial scale before moving to mass production. The idea is that shared R&D infrastructure will cut both the cost and risk of upcoming process advancements.
The European Commission confirmed the site has secured €700 million in EU funding, matched by another €700 million from national and regional governments. Additional investments come from ASML and other industry partners. The pilot line aims to advance next-gen chips essential for AI, autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and 6G mobile technology.
This project falls under the EU Chips Act, launched in 2022, which aims to boost the bloc’s share of global semiconductor production to 20% by 2030. The total investment stands at €2.5 billion, split between €1.4 billion in public funds and €1.1 billion from private sources, with ASML contributing the largest portion of the industry’s funding.
“Sub-2nm” is industry jargon for the latest manufacturing node, referring to smaller transistor sizes and more compact chip layouts. EUV, short for extreme ultraviolet lithography, is the light-based technique that etches these minuscule patterns. “High NA” points to a new optical system capable of capturing even finer details.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet described the inauguration as “happening at the heart of Europe.” Imec’s Luc Van den hove highlighted the pilot line’s role in “strengthening Europe’s industrial fabric in the AI era.” Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele emphasized that Europe faces the “choice to be the best.” Imec Int
Imec announced that Monday’s event celebrated the launch of a 2,000 square metre cleanroom expansion at its Leuven headquarters, expanding the pilot line facilities. The company’s total cleanroom space now tops 12,000 square metres, with plans to add another 4,000 square metres in the upcoming phase.
Over the next five years, the pilot line will bring together more than 100 tools from imec and its partners, including CEA-Leti in France, Fraunhofer in Germany, VTT in Finland, CSSNT-UPB in Romania, and Ireland’s Tyndall National Institute, imec said.
ASML’s High-NA EUV machine is scheduled to arrive at the facility by mid-March, a crucial device for pushing past the 2-nanometre node. The EU has labeled NanoIC as Europe’s first site to adopt this cutting-edge EUV lithography technology.
The pilot line isn’t a full-scale commercial factory, and Europe still faces a bigger hurdle: scaling prototypes to high-volume production at globally competitive costs. The market share Europe can snag for AI chips will hinge on tool deliveries, integration timelines, and whether chipmakers decide to invest in new capacity.
Since being chosen to host NanoIC, Imec has ramped up both tool acquisitions and hiring. The pilot line aims to unite researchers and industry players to develop “systems-on-chip” designs—chips that integrate several functions onto one die—while also exploring new process techniques.
