this Malaga The technology hopes to receive official confirmation in the coming months. Europe and government to the project developed by the Ricardo Valle Foundation for the establishment of Malaga Technology Park (PTA) a microchip design center that can produce about 550 Given the shortage of semiconductors in world trade caused by the impact of the pandemic, the jobs (250 of them directly and the rest by collaborating companies) that it wants to contribute to the EU strategy to promote the production of these components on community soil.
Minister of Industry, Kings Marotoin an interview published a few days ago by the Prensa Ibérica group to which this newspaper belongs, microchipApproved by the Government in May and donated 12,500 million by 2027, has Malaga as one of three ecosystems (the others being Catalonia and Galicia) Large-scale work will be carried out on it from the outset.
The Malaga initiative, submitted by the Ricardo Valle Foundation (also known as Innova IRV) at the time to the call for Projects of Common Interests in Europe (PIICE), included 87 from the Government and 30 more from the Junta de Andalucía.
Ezequiel Navarro, president of the foundation, view of malaga They are waiting for the Executive and Government to convey their approval, although they are “optimistic” about the success of the project but prefer to remain “cautious”.
this Malaga microchip center to focus pseudo-internet of things and ultra-low power design, It is a future trend so that more and more devices can be networked in daily life. The PTA lab will design the chips, software and circuit boards, i.e. all phases of pre-production. The activity will focus on the development of a microprocessor for devices that will use the open source RISC-V technological architecture for mass use in the Internet of Things, the digital home or the automotive industry.
“It’s kind of like the Linux of electronics, which makes it possible to democratize access to the design of semiconductors and microprocessors for everyone using common architectures. Since there is no code that anyone owns, Chips designed in Malaga they can be put into production anywhere without having to work with a specific brand.“, says Navarro, CEO of Premo Group.
These future facilities will thus constitute a pioneering initiative in practice to bring RISC-V solutions to all categories and strategic sectors in the microchips field, such as bionics, defense or cars. For this, we rely on the experience of Mario Nemirovsky, microelectronics specialist and technology director of Innova IRV. “We are lucky to have the father of this technology.Navarro assures it.
Felipe Romera, PTA’s managing director, admits that the project, which has lasted more than a year and has backed by employers’ association Ametic, is “very ambitious” and has the goal of transforming Málaga into Europe. reference in the design of open source microchips.
“Everything is ready. It is a project that the government knows about and is undoubtedly in very good condition. What is missing right now is approval when the PERTE bases come out. We hope an agreement will be reached. We want to bring together a world-class working team with the design center in a few months to start this year.” It might be ready.” When that happens, Romera estimates that the design process for these chips, which is complex and laborious, will take months.
The foundation’s plans are to set up an investment company (a prospect envisioned in its statutes) that will be called Innova Semiconductors and will open facilities at the PTA. Despite being new building, four locations are managed building Rosalind and the UMA’s blue building are two of the main options. The aim is to involve students and PhD students in this field at Innova Semiconductors. Ezequiel Navarro is looking forward to getting started as soon as possible.
“We hope the center was launched in the same 2022. As soon as we get the authorization, we can start working immediately. For the first workers, it was necessary to set up a laboratory, rent the necessary software licenses (which in this case are expensive), bring in experts… », he lists.
Of the 117 million investment, 57 will be for the creation of the design center and 60 for the lines of cooperation.n with Spanish companies for product development. Nine microtechnology companies (Indra, Ontech, Semidynamics, Amper, Extrememory, Ingnion, Gradiant, Maxwell and Wimmic) with experience in microchip have joined the initiative and will be responsible for executing projects and creating employment in this field.
The first prototypes of the semiconductors designed in Malaga were to be tested at IMEC in Belgium, Europe’s largest microchip research and development centre.