European Chips Act / Chips Joint Undertaking 2026 — Funding, Eligibility & How to Apply

Next Deadline7 September 2026

86Days Left

65% elapsed35% remaining

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Funding Amount

€10M-50M per call (project shares vary by consortium)

Success Rate

Not officially published; competitive (estimated single digits to ~20% depending on call)

Timeline

~13-15 months from outline to grant (2026 calls: decisions ~April 2027, projects start summer 2027)

Companies Funded

30 competence centres in 28 countries; multiple pilot lines (PIXEurope, WBG, FAMES) operational

What it costs to get help applying

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Grant consultant€3,000–8,000

Same application, drafted by AI trained on funded proposals — at a fraction of consultant rates.

Overview

The Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) is the EU's funding engine for semiconductors — the brains inside everything from cars to data centres to AI accelerators. It runs the "Chips for Europe Initiative," the technology arm of the European Chips Act, which channels up to €3.3 billion of EU money (€1.65 billion from Horizon Europe plus €1.65 billion from the Digital Europe Programme) into the research, pilot lines, design tools and skills Europe needs to stop importing nearly all its advanced chips. Counting matching national contributions and private investment, the Chips JU expects to mobilise close to €11 billion by 2030. Unlike the EIC, this is consortium-based, collaborative R&D: you apply with partners across several countries, not as a lone startup. The funding model matters: the Chips JU is a co-funded partnership, not a standard Horizon grant, so the EU/Chips JU slice is a minority co-funding contribution — roughly 20% of eligible costs for a large enterprise in an Innovation Action up to around 35% for a non-profit — and your own government's national co-funding makes up the rest of a viable total. Most calls fund Research and Innovation Actions (RIA, earlier-stage research at TRL 3-4) or Innovation Actions (IA, closer-to-market work at TRL 5-8). TRL means Technology Readiness Level, a 1-9 scale where 1 is a lab idea and 9 is a product in the field.

2026 BudgetEight-plus calls launched in 2026 across ECS, Chips for Europe, Quantum and Skills

Average Grant

Is this for you?

This is built for organisations doing serious semiconductor R&D as part of a cross-border team: chipmakers and fabless designers, semiconductor-equipment and materials vendors, photonics and quantum hardware companies, research and technology organisations (RTOs like imec, CEA-Leti, Fraunhofer), and universities. If you have a real technical contribution to make to Europe's chip stack — advanced packaging, power electronics, photonic integration, chip-design tooling, quantum components or training the workforce — and partners in several countries to build it with, this is for you. If you are a lone founder looking for non-dilutive cash to scale a single product, look elsewhere: the EIC Accelerator (grant plus equity for one company) or the European Innovation Council Transition scheme fit that far better. Chips JU money is shared across a consortium and tied to a collaborative work plan, not handed to one team.

Success rates — the honest picture

The numbers are sobering, even if the Chips JU does not publish a headline success rate the way the EIC does. Individual 2026 calls are funded at €10-50 million each, and a single large pilot-line or design topic can absorb most of one call's budget — so only a handful of consortia win per topic, and competition concentrates on the big-name RTOs and tier-one chip firms. Realistically, selection rates sit in the single digits to ~20% depending on the call, and the bar is technical excellence judged by expert evaluators, not polish. The bigger trap is the co-funding model: this is NOT a near-full EU grant. The EU/Chips JU contribution is a minority slice — roughly 20% of costs for a large enterprise in an Innovation Action, up to around 35% for a non-profit — so the national co-funding from your own government is essential, not a bonus. Winning the Chips JU evaluation is necessary but not sufficient: you must ALSO secure that national co-funding, and national budgets are capped per country and can run out, so a technically excellent proposal can still go unfunded if your member state has no money left. Most rejections are not bad science; they are consortia that were too thin, mis-pitched the TRL, or assembled partners without genuine complementarity. If you are not already plugged into the European chip ecosystem (AENEAS, Inside, EPoSS industry associations), the realistic move is to join an existing consortium rather than lead your first one.

End-to-end success rateNot officially published; competitive (estimated single digits to ~20% depending on call)

Roughly 1 in 5 applications gets funded. A sharp, evidence-backed proposal is what separates the funded from the rejected.

Eligibility

1Open to legal entities — companies (any size), research and technology organisations, universities and public bodies — established in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe associated country.
2Most calls require a consortium of partners from several different participating countries; this is collaborative cross-border R&D rather than single-applicant funding.
3Because the Chips JU is a co-funded partnership, the EU/Chips JU grant covers only a minority slice (~20-35% of costs); each partner must also satisfy its own national authority's eligibility rules and draw on that country's allocated national co-funding budget to reach a viable total.
4Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) fund earlier-stage research at TRL 3-4; Innovation Actions (IA) fund closer-to-market development at TRL 5-8.
5Proposals must address a specific open call topic — advanced packaging, power electronics, photonics, health, quantum chips, chip design, pilot lines, competence centres or skills.
6All proposals are submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal under the relevant HORIZON-JU-CHIPS (Horizon Europe) or DIGITAL-JU-CHIPS (Digital Europe) call identifier.

How to Apply

1
Identify the right open call topic on the Chips JU site and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, and confirm whether it is a RIA (TRL 3-4) or IA (TRL 5-8) action.
2
Assemble a complementary, multi-country consortium — or join an existing one through the European chip industry associations (AENEAS, Inside, EPoSS) if you are new to the ecosystem.
3
Contact your national funding authority early: the EU/Chips JU grant only covers ~20-35% of costs, so verify your eligibility for national co-funding and confirm budget is still available for the call in your country.
4
For two-stage calls, submit a short project outline via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal by the first cut-off date.
5
If invited through, submit the full proposal against the excellence, impact and implementation criteria by the second cut-off.
6
After expert evaluation, selected consortia negotiate the Chips JU grant agreement and finalise national co-funding in parallel — both are required before money flows.

Typical Budget Breakdown

Horizon Europe contribution to Chips for Europe Initiative50%

Digital Europe Programme contribution to Chips for Europe Initiative50%

2026 Deadlines

Next Cut-off7 September 2026

Cut-off 217 September 2026

Key Features

Up to €3.3B EU budget (€1.65B Horizon Europe + €1.65B Digital Europe)

Calls of €10-50M each across chip design, photonics, quantum, power electronics and skills

Co-funded model: the EU/Chips JU grant is a minority slice (~20-35% of costs); national co-funding from your own government makes up the rest

Funds pilot lines, a design platform, and 30 competence centres across 28 countries

RIA at TRL 3-4 and IA at TRL 5-8

Consortium-based — apply with partners across multiple countries

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The European Chips Act is the wider EU regulation and strategy. The Chips JU runs its funding arm — the Chips for Europe Initiative — which pays for R&D, pilot lines, a chip design platform, competence centres and skills, with up to €3.3B of EU money (€1.65B Horizon Europe + €1.65B Digital Europe).

Rarely. Most Chips JU calls require a consortium of partners from several participating countries. If you want non-dilutive funding for one company, the EIC Accelerator is the better route.

The Chips JU is a co-funded partnership, not a standard Horizon grant, so the EU/Chips JU contribution is a minority slice of project costs — roughly 20% for a large enterprise in an Innovation Action up to around 35% for a non-profit. On top of that EU grant you receive national co-funding from your own government, and the combined rate varies by country and partner type.

Funded projects receive both a Chips JU (EU) grant and national co-funding from their own government. Because the EU slice is only about 20-35% of costs, the national portion is essential to reach a viable total — not a top-up bonus. You must win the Chips JU evaluation AND secure national co-funding, and national budgets are capped per country and can run out, so a strong proposal can still go unfunded.

Pilot lines (e.g. PIXEurope for photonics, the Wide Band Gap line, FAMES) are shared advanced-manufacturing facilities where companies prototype chips they could not build alone. Competence centres — 30 of them across 28 countries — give SMEs and researchers local access to chip-design expertise and tools.

The next live 2026 cut-offs are 7 September 2026 (Quantum Chips Design and Enabling Technologies RIAs, plus Skills Hubs and Pilot Federation) and 17 September 2026 (ECS IA Resilience full proposals for power electronics, photonics and health). Confirm the exact date on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

All Chips JU proposals are submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal under the relevant HORIZON-JU-CHIPS or DIGITAL-JU-CHIPS call identifier. Two-stage calls require a short outline first, then a full proposal if invited.