TSMC opens easier access for chip startups via imec's IC-Link

Designing a chip on one of TSMC's advanced manufacturing processes has long been a game for companies with deep pockets and large IT departments. A new collaboration announced today between IC-Link by Belgian research institute imec and TSMC aims to change that, giving startups, research groups and European design teams a simpler way in.

IC-Link, the Belgian research institute's design and manufacturing service arm for ASICs and silicon photonics, has joined TSMC's Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Cloud Alliance. Through the partnership, customers will be able to design chips in a secure, IC-Link-managed cloud environment with access to TSMC's process design kits (PDKs), the tightly controlled technical files that describe how a manufacturing node behaves.

Removing the hidden entry costs

For a young chip company, the obstacles to advanced-node design go well beyond engineering talent. Teams need substantial computing power, costly design software and an infrastructure secure enough to satisfy TSMC before they can even work with its PDKs. Setting all of that up can swallow months and a significant share of an early-stage budget.

IC-Link's offering bundles those pieces together. The company provides the secure hosting, compute resources and infrastructure management, plus hands-on support from its own design experts, so customers can concentrate on the chip itself.

The detail that sets the service apart is flexibility in design tools. IC-Link says it will be the first managed-cloud service in the alliance to support a mixed-partner EDA flow, meaning customers can combine design software from different vendors and use licences they already own, rather than being tied to a single toolchain.

"As chip design continues to increase in complexity, innovators require a holistic solution," said Pierre Blondeau, vice president ASIC Services at IC-Link by imec. He added that the aim is to make advanced semiconductor innovation more accessible and help customers move more confidently from design concept to end product.

A bridge for European innovation

The announcement carries particular weight in Europe. The continent is home to strong chip design talent and world-class research, with imec itself among the leading semiconductor institutes globally, but it has little leading-edge manufacturing capacity of its own. European designers working on advanced chips therefore depend heavily on TSMC. Both companies say the expanded collaboration contributes to wider efforts to strengthen semiconductor innovation capacity in Europe and beyond.

The target markets are some of the fastest-growing in the industry: artificial intelligence, communications, automotive and industrial applications. AI in particular has produced a surge of startups building specialised processors, many of which need advanced nodes to compete on performance and energy efficiency.

TSMC framed the move as a way to widen its ecosystem. Aveek Sarkar, director of TSMC's Ecosystem and Alliance Management Division, said the company is pleased to support a broader community of innovators seeking access to advanced process and packaging design capabilities.

Building on a long relationship

The partnership is an extension rather than a first date. IC-Link has been a member of TSMC's Design Center Alliance since 2007 and its Value Chain Alliance since 2009, and recently joined the OIP 3DFabric Alliance for advanced packaging.

The companies have not disclosed which specific process nodes are available through the service, pricing, or initial customers.