Open EU Foundry status granted to innovative chiplet facility

The Commission has granted the Open EU Foundry (OEF) status to Silicon Box in Novara, Italy.

March 16, 2026 -- Under the European Chips Act, the OEF status is granted to new or upgraded innovative semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

The status provides benefits to semiconductor facilities including administrative support, faster construction approvals and priority access to pilot lines under the Chips for Europe Initiative. This helps deepen European semiconductor supply chain resilience and boost innovation.

Silicon Box’s project is a significant milestone in strengthening Europe’s semiconductor industry through its new advanced semiconductor packaging and testing facility. The facility will integrate multiple dies or chiplets - small, modular semiconductor blocks that perform specific functions - into a single package, effectively creating a multi-chip module that behaves like a single chip, using panel level packaging.

Panel level packaging uses a more efficient large-panel approach to packaging, enabling higher output and lower cost compared to traditional methods in the final stage of the chip making process. The facility will also test chips at panel-level, grouping multiple chiplets into a single panel, enabling more comprehensive quality verification before final assembly.

The project will provide an important base in Europe for developing innovative technologies, products and system solutions for the semiconductors key to powering AI, electric and autonomous vehicles, data centres, as well as supercomputing applications. The plant is expected to reach full capacity in 2033.

This OEF status recognition follows four semiconductor projects across the EU which have previously been awarded OEF or IPF (integrated production facility) status in October 2025:

• ESMC in Germany (OEF)
• Ams-OSRAM in Austria (IPF)
• Infineon Technologies Dresden in Germany (IPF)
• STMicroelectronics in Italy

The decision to grant OEF follows the Commission state aid decision concerning Silicon Box.