Chip Center

The Metrosert Chip Technology Competence Center is a strategically important project for Estonia, established under the European Union’s Chips Act. The centre is part of a pan-European network of chip competence centers that strengthens the EU’s position in the global technological race. Its main goal is to support companies in developing chip design capabilities and enhancing their skills.

The Chip Center supports companies in chip design and pilot production, providing them with the necessary knowledge and networking.

The Chip Center will focus on three types of companies:

• Fabless chip companies that design and market chips without a factory
• Companies offering chip design services
• Technology companies that develop application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)

Chip Center’s support includes training specialists, consulting on chip design and testing, assisting in finding suitable development partners and establishing the necessary resources for development.

As the Chip Center focuses on chip design then at the European level, support is offered in three main areas: 

• Hardware Security – protecting chips from cyberattacks 
• Chip Testing and Safety – ensuring quality and reliability 
• Functional Verification – checking the chip design’s compliance with specifications 

The center’s design capability is based on RISC-V Architecture – an open-source processor architecture that allows all companies to use and customize it, open EDA (Electronic Design Automation) software, and Artificial Intelligence in Chip Design. These open platforms enable companies to develop innovative solutions without incurring significant licensing costs   

The centre’s activities are largely co-funded by the CHIPS JU through the project “Kiip” over the first four years. The total budget of the project is €2.4 million, financed equally by the European Union’s Digital Europe Programme and the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. The EU funding covers a four-year period, after which the goal of the chip centre is to become an independent and sustainable entity that meets the owner’s expectations set for state-owned companies and is capable of funding its operations through service revenues and additional projects. The project is coordinated by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (EIS), with Metrosert and the Estonian Electronics Industries Association (EETL) as partners.

“Our goal is to support dozens of start-ups and established companies in the technology transfer related to chip design solutions, thereby helping to strengthen the global competitiveness of Estonian enterprises.”
— Andres Mellik, Program Manager of the Metrosert Chip Centre

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