Quantum chip development: Europe is upping its efforts in quantum technology innovation with the recent selection of six consortia by the Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU)
This new milestone shows strategic investment in building Europe’s capabilities in quantum chip development.
The selections consortia will receive up to €145 million in funding through grant agreements to be completed later in 2025.
These projects will focus on building industrial-scale manufacturing capabilities and enhancing the durability and reliability of quantum chips for various applications, including sensing, communication, and computing.
Technology scope
The consortia will explore a range of promising quantum technologies. This includes superconducting circuits, photonic systems, semiconducting materials, diamond-based platforms, and neutral-atom approaches.
High-quality trapped-ion technologies will also be developed, adding to existing European microfabrication and materials science strengths.
Each project will aim to advance scalable and mature technologies that can be integrated into manufacturing environments. This includes developing open-access pilot production lines supporting stable, high-performance quantum chip production. These pilot lines are expected to lay the groundwork for broader deployment and integration into Europe’s chip-making ecosystem.
Building Europe’s quantum value chain
One of the main outcomes expected from this initiative is supporting the entire quantum chip value chain, ranging from design to fabrication, testing, and system integration.
By targeting the full lifecycle of quantum chip development, the selected actions will help bridge the gap between research and market-ready technologies.
The Chips JU initiative also aims to create collaboration between academia, research institutes, and industry leaders across Europe.
This cooperative framework is intended to speed up innovation while promoting knowledge sharing and long-term strategic partnerships.
Improving technological sovereignty
The funding and support for these consortia are part of Europe’s broader effort to improve its technological sovereignty in quantum and semiconductor technologies. The initiative helps reduce dependence on external markets by developing local capabilities and reinforces Europe’s capacity to lead in cutting-edge technology sectors.
This move works with the European Union’s ambition to become a global technology leader while ensuring the resilience of its industrial base.
Through Chips JU, Europe is investing in innovation and infrastructure, positioning itself to compete effectively internationally.
The next steps for implication
Following the selection process, the Chips JU will collaborate closely with each consortium to develop detailed strategic and technical frameworks. These will outline the technological goals and establish the project’s operational structure. Once these agreements are finalised, the consortia will submit proposals for implementing specific activities within these frameworks.
About Chips Joint Undertaking
The Chips Joint Undertaking was established to boost Europe’s semiconductor sector through coordinated research, development, and innovation investments. With a total funding capacity approaching €11 billion from the EU, participating states, and industry partners, Chips JU is a central pillar in Europe’s strategy to build a competitive and resilient semiconductor ecosystem.
By supporting emerging technologies such as quantum chips, the initiative addresses current industry needs and paves the way for Europe’s long-term technological advancement.
![Figure 1: Sketch of the evolution of the Universe over the last 13.77 billion years. It started with the Big Bang, followed by an extremely short period of rapid exponential expansion. The furthest we can see is the cosmic microwave background, when radiation decoupled from matter, approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang. This is followed by the ‘dark ages,’ during which this radiation redshifted from the visible regime into infrared and sub-mm wavelengths. The occurrence of the first stars, about 400 million years after the Big Bang, ended this phase, spearheading the formation of galaxies as we see them today. [Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team, public domain]](https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fig-1_1200-100x70.jpg "How did the first stars form in space?")
