[News] TSMC Partners with Technical University of Munich to Establish AI Chip R&D Center in Bavaria

According to Liberty Times, citing German media outlet BR24, the Bavarian state government has announced a collaboration with TSMC to establish an AI chip research and development center at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The center, officially named the Munich Advanced-Technology Center for High-Tech AI Chips (MACHT-AI), will be led by Professor Hussam Amrouch of TUM. As the report indicates, the move deepens cooperation with TSMC and seeks to strengthen Europe’s chip design capabilities.

The report notes that funding for the AI chip R&D center will come jointly from Bavaria’s Ministry of Science and Ministry of Economic Affairs, with a total budget of about EUR 4.5 million.

For this AI chip center, the report highlights that TSMC will provide technical support, focusing on the development of high-performance, customizable AI chips, while also training students and researchers in manufacturing processes such as FinFET.

As the report mentions, in May TSMC announced at the Europe Technology Symposium that it would establish a chip design center in Munich to help European customers develop high-performance chips for automotive, artificial intelligence, and industrial IoT applications, with operations slated to begin in the third quarter of this year.

eeNews Europe indicates that TSMC’s decision to set up a chip design center in Europe may have been motivated by the region’s shortage of advanced design expertise and the need to provide close support for customers in maximizing the value of the wafer fab it is building in Dresden.

In August 2024, ESMC—TSMC’s joint venture with Bosch, Infineon, and NXP—broke ground in Dresden on what will be the EU’s first FinFET-capable pure-play foundry. When fully operational, ESMC is expected to produce 40,000 300mm (12-inch) wafers per month on TSMC’s 28/22nm planar CMOS and 16/12nm FinFET process technologies, as its press release indicates.

Read more

• [News] TSMC to Open First European Design Center in Munich by Q3 2025, Focusing on AI and Automotive
• [News] TSMC Accelerates 2nd Arizona Fab Production; Ramp-Up Schedules for Japan, Germany Undisclosed

(Photo credit: TSMC)