UK businesses, universities and research organisations now have expanded opportunities to participate in the Horizon Europe Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), with a series of open and forthcoming funding calls published for 2026. These calls aim to strengthen Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem across design, manufacturing, pilot lines, advanced packaging and strategic electronic components.
The UK’s participation follows its formal association to the programme, unlocking access to a €1.3 billion funding pot for semiconductor R&D, supported by up to £35 million in UK government co‑funding between 2024 and 2027.
Strengthening the UK’s semiconductor position
The UK government has emphasised that participation in Chips JU will help secure long term growth in semiconductor research and manufacturing, supporting innovation in AI, quantum, photonics and next generation electronics.
With multiple calls now open and further deadlines approaching, UK organisations are encouraged to engage early, build strong European consortia and make full use of available national support.
Open and forthcoming Chips JU calls
As of mid-June 2026, the main remaining Chips JU opportunities are forthcoming calls expected to launch in July 2026, alongside later-stage deadlines for applicants already progressing through two-stage calls.
ECS Resilience calls
Forthcoming calls under the Electronic Components and Systems Research and Innovation programme are expected to open on 7 July 2026, with deadline 16 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Topic areas include power electronics, photonics, health technologies, 6G radio communication systems, widening international cooperation, supply chain resilience, and building a European stack ecosystem for autonomous driving, and impact monitoring.
The resilience calls are intended to support strategic semiconductor and electronic components activity in areas where Europe is seeking to strengthen capability and supply chain resilience.
Details of the ECS Resilience calls can be found in the Chips JU Work Programme Appendix 7.
Chips JU Skills calls
Three skills-related calls are expected to launch on 7 July 2026, with a submission deadline of 24 September 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. These cover Skills Hubs of Excellence, Pilot Federation and Stimulation of Chip Design.
These calls focus on semiconductor education, training, re-skilling, up-skilling, practical learning capacity and chip design capability across the European ecosystem.
Quantum chips and enabling technologies calls
Further Chips for Europe opportunities are covering Quantum Chips Design and Quantum Chips: Enabling Technologies: these will launch on 1 Dec 2027 with deadlines on 31 Mar 2027.
These calls are aimed at research and innovation activity related to quantum chip design and the technologies needed to support quantum chip development.
Additional calls
Other calls in the CHIPS-JU Work Programme cover semiconductor design platforms, AI chips and systems, and chips for virtual worlds.
Details of the skills, quantum, and additional calls can be found in the Chips JU Work Programme Appendix 8, along with their opening and closing dates.
Applying from the UK
UK organisations and businesses can apply for Horizon Europe funding, working as part of a consortium with at least three countries, one of which must be an EU Member State (see “Who can apply?” below). If you are interested in one of the calls and would like to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s European Programmes team.
If you have formed a consortium and are ready to apply, you can do so via the Horizon Europe Funding and Tenders Portal. Click here to see all open Horizon Europe calls (you will need to search for the title of the call you are interested in).
Our Innovate UK European Team and UK National Contact Points can support you with these exciting potential funding opportunities and help you get the most out of Horizon Europe.
To be eligible for Innovate UK funding as part of the Chips JU call, your consortium must include at least one UK registered business.
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Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in Horizon Europe actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State;
- and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries (this includes the UK).
Our European team can help you find eligible partners to form a consortium.
There may be further eligibility conditions for specific topics. Please check the Work Programme and contact our team to ensure your eligibility before applying.
It is important to note that a successful application to Chips JU does not guarantee funding by Innovate UK. UK participants are strongly advised to discuss applications with their Innovate UK contacts prior to submission to Chips JU.
The UK will support UK participants, as listed, in projects selected by the Chips Joint Undertaking:
- registered business of any size
- academic institution
- public sector organisation
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
Only legal entities (i.e. organisations) will be funded, natural persons (i.e. individuals) will not be funded.
To be eligible for Innovate UK support, the consortium must contain at least one UK registered business of any size. Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
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Recordings
Horizon Europe: CHIPS-JU, 7 April 2026 – Innovate UK Business Connect. This online briefing covered call priorities, deadlines, UK co‑funding and NCP support. Recording and slides are available.
Upcoming events
Info session on the CHIPS calls on skills: 18 June, 14:00 – 17:15 CEST
2nd EU-Japan Digital Foundations Network Symposium, 25 to 26 June in Brussels, Belgium
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Each call has several topics in scope: please read the work programme (section 6.1) for the full list.
Single-stage calls opening on 7 July 2026 and closing on 16 Sept 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time (4pm UK time):
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT1-IA: Resilience call reinforcing Europe’s strength in power electronics, total budget €20m, c.€10m per project.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT2-IA: Resilience call reinforcing Europe’s strength in photonics, total budget €20m, c.€10m per project.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-FT3-IA: Resilience call reinforcing Europe’s strength in health (using ECS to realize integrated systems and solutions and increase research, development and engineering efficiency that are essential for delivering future advanced healthcare), total budget €20m, expected to fund only one project.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-IA-FT4: AI-assisted Methods and Tools for Software-Defined Vehicle Engineering Automation, total budget €20m, expected to fund only one project.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-2-RIA: Resilience call reinforcing Europe’s strength in 6G radio communication systems, “Call on the 6G Front End Module“, total budget €20m, expected to fund only one project.
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-3-RIA: Call with Digital Partnership and TTC countries (partnerships with India, Singapore and Taiwan), total budget €5m, c.€2m-€2.5m per project
Single-stage calls opening on 7 July 2026 and closing on 22 Sept 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time (4pm UK time):
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-CSA: Supply chain resilience (CSA), total budget €2m, expected to fund only one project
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-SDV-CSA: Preparing a European autonomous driving stack ecosystem building on next-generation SDV software and hardware computing architectures, total budget €2m, expected to fund only one project.
Single-stage call opening on 7 July 2026 and closing on 30 Sept 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time (4pm UK time):
- HORIZON-JU-CHIPS-2026-IMAF-CSA: Impact Monitoring and Assessment Framework for the Chips JU, total budget €1m, expected to fund only one project
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Single-stage calls opening 7 Jul 2026, closing 24 Sep 2026 at 17:00 CET (4pm UK time):
- DIGITAL-Chips-2026-SG-SKILLS-HoE Skills Hubs of Excellence: total budget €20m, c.€4m per project
- DIGITAL-Chips-2026-SG-SKILLS-PF Pilot Federation, c.€10m for a single project
- DIGITAL-Chips-2026-CSA-SKILLS-SCD Stimulation of Chip Design, c.€15m for a single project
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Single-stage calls opening 1 Dec 2026, closing 31 Mar 2027 at 17:00 CET (4pm UK time):
- HORIZON-JU-CHIPS-2026-QUANTUM-1-RIA: Quantum Chips Design: Driving Europe’s Quantum Design Ecosystem and Enabling Quantum Design Tools Innovation, c.€20m for a single project
- HORIZON-JU-CHIPS-2026-QUANTUM-2-RIA: Quantum Chips: Enabling Technologies: total budget €30m, c.€8m-€10m per project
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Single-stage calls opening 7 Jul 2026, closing 23 Sep 2026 at 17:00 CET (4pm UK time):
- DIGITAL-JU-CHIPS-2026-AI1-SG: AI chip demonstrators for EU compute infrastructure: total budget €10m, c.€1m per project
- DIGITAL-JU-CHIPS-2026-AI-GfP: AI compute evaluation and deployment platform for EU infrastructure: c.€70m for a single project
An additional call “AI compute racks for EU compute infrastructure” is expected to be launched after 2026.
Single-stage call opening 7 Jul 2026, closing 24 Sep 2026 at 17:00 CET (4pm UK time):
- DIGITAL-JU-Chips-2026-SG-JAPAN: International collaboration – Joint call EU and Japan on semiconductors, €3m-€5m for a single project
Dates not yet confirmed in current Work Programme:
- HORIZON-JU-Chips-2026-VRChips-CSA: Exploration of a Virtual Worlds Chips Ecosystem made in Europe: c.€1m for a single project
- DIGITAL-JU-Chips-2026-DET-CSA: Call for Design Enablement Teams: total budget €5m, c.€0.5m per project
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UK organisations preparing proposals can access tailored guidance from several sources:
Craig Sharp — UK National Contact Point (NCP) for Digital, offering one‑to‑one advice on call scope, eligibility, and consortium building.
Innovate UK sector experts — Specialists in semiconductors, photonics, quantum, robotics and AI, providing strategic insights and bid‑development support.
Innovate UK Business Connect — Offering webinars, briefing sessions, partner‑search support and signposting to UK co‑funding. Contact our Global Alliance team in the first instance.
This support is designed to help UK organisations build competitive proposals and collaborate effectively with European partners.