Cluster Update | May 2023

It’s time for an overall ChipTech Twente update. A lot has happened over the last months and we’d like to give you a flavour.

Good progress has been made with the individual company visits, gathering inputs for the industry roadmap. We enjoyed the constructive and open in-depth discussions with many companies, large and small. We received very concrete feedback on the topics of Talent, the view on a local Foundry, inputs on Heterogeneous Integration, Chip Design and Marketing & Public Affairs. All companies are committing their time, energy and support to ChipTech, without a single exception. We also see new intercompany exchanges and cooperations within the ChipTech community – we’re doing this together. Much appreciated!

The contours of the industry roadmap are starting to take shape. The 5 working groups as formed during our March 10th kickoff are working in parallel on those topics. Within these working groups and their connections, we have a very broad network of people helping CTT, reaching out, and setting things in motion together.

Some examples: We welcomed the SG of the ministery of Finance, Bas van den Dungen, in the MESA+ facility. Our conclusion from the lively discussions on ChipTech and its Twente high tech ecosystem: We’re very much aligned on important topics such as Talent, securing Dutch technology companies within the Netherlands, and the necessity to have facilities for chip production, packaging and testing close by.

We also discussed ChipTech Twente with the Strategic Board of the University Twente. Our message was not only that our companies urgently need many hundreds of new engineers & technicians, we also discussed the needed competencies and the need to cooperate between University of Twente, Hogeschool Saxion, ROC van Twente, the companies and the local government to tackle the challenges of attracting & keeping talent within the region.

The Chips Act has made progress in the meanwhile: It has been approved, allocating €43B to help accelerate EU semiconductor market share from 8% to 20%. The Netherlands has a great basis to make significant contributions to that ambition, and we’re working very closely nationally with our colleagues such as Brainport and Holland Semiconductor to prepare for the Chips Act landing in the coming months.

The CTT marketing workgroup led by Marieke Stokkelaar is working on a broad range of important topics, ranging from EU Lobby to City level marketing for Enschede. This group is well connected to the topsectors, the WTC Twente, and the major national initiatives. We also lined up a strong CTT delegation for the upcoming Japan trade mission, led by RVO and Ministery of Economic Affairs. While this is a good start, a lot more work is still ahead for international promotion of ChipTech and the dutch Semiconductor ecosystem to help our companies with regional expansion and attract talent.

The high energy level is high. The cooperation between companies, knowledge- and government institutes is better than ever before. Our local strengths and innovations such as RF/Analog IC design, integrated photonics, microfluidics, MEMS, Quantum and the related testing, packaging, assembly and fabrication are all coming together. Our world leading technology companies are working on growth and local economic impact by broadening the value chain. If we keep this flow, make some noise, and accelerate everything with the Chips Act, Twente will become the worldwide leader in the Chip specials of the future. Thank you for your support!