Feb. 02, 2026 –
CEA-Leti inaugurates a 2,000m² cleanroom, housing specialized 300-mm fab equipment and ultra-efficient.
More than 350 representatives from industry, research organizations, public authorities and European institutions gathered for the inauguration, underlining the strategic importance of the FAMES Pilot Line for both the regional ecosystem and Europe's semiconductor value chain. This five-year, pan-European pilot line is coordinated by CEA-Leti and include 11 partners from eight countries.
The facility expands CEA-Leti's platform by 2,000 m² of new cleanroom space, raising the total to 14,000 m2, and will house approximately 80 state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing tools, complementing an existing base of more than 700 pieces across its campus. Designed and built in two years, the building is tailored to 300 mm microelectronics manufacturing and to the requirements of next-generation process technologies and equipment.
'Significant Departure'
“This facility marks a significant departure from Europe's existing cleanrooms," said Sébastien Dauvé, CEO of CEA-Leti. “It was designed from the outset to host the most sophisticated 300 mm equipment and the most advanced lithography tools, while ensuring very high standards of reliability and operational continuity. It will be a vital base for transferring the latest chip technologies to our partners across Europe."
In addition to housing some of the semiconductor industry's most specialized and sophisticated tools, the facility, known as building 41.03, has been installed with ultra-efficient ecological systems and processes.
The FAMES pilot line is part of the European Union's response to the EU Chips Act, with an aim to mature advanced microelectronics technologies—FD-SOI, embedded non-volatile memories, radio frequency, 3D integration, and power management integrated circuits—and transfer them rapidly to industry. By combining 3D heterogeneous and sequential integration on FD-SOI platforms, the pilot line targets a new generation of More-than-Moore devices for applications spanning computing, connectivity, sensing, and power management.
The €830 million project is funded by the European Commission under the EU Chips Act, by seven member states (Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Austria, Spain and Poland), and by the French government through the France 2030 program. It builds on CEA-Leti's existing infrastructure and mission: maturing advanced microelectronics technologies before transferring them to industry.
Chrystel Deguet, deputy director in charge of the development of CEA-Leti's microelectronics platform, emphasized the collaborative dimension of the project: “To optimize the design, we consulted closely with industrial partners. We are gaining more than 10 percent additional cleanroom capacity and, above all, an infrastructure designed to remain relevant for the next 20 to 30 years."
Integrated Environmental Performance
Some of the latest ecological processes and systems were integrated into the building's design from the earliest stages. Energy-efficient architecture and optimized infrastructure are expected to reduce annual CO₂ emissions by an estimated 651,000 kilograms, equivalent to roughly 70 round-the-world flights.
Additional measures include high-performance insulation studies for waste-heat recovery, advanced separation and recycling of process and cooling water, green roofs for rainwater management, and continuous monitoring of energy and resource consumption.
A lab-to-market approach serving chip stakeholders
With this project, CEA-Leti aims to provide pilot line participants with access to near-industrial manufacturing conditions, enabling them to test, qualify, and scale technologies more rapidly. This lab-to-fab approach is central to the institute's role as a bridge between upstream research and industrial deployment.
With its inauguration, this new cleanroom is now ready to welcome industrial projects from France and across Europe, offering companies a unique environment to develop, test, and qualify advanced semiconductor processes under near-production conditions.
Building 41.03, in a class of its own
With 2,000 m² of cleanroom space, the facility expands CEA-Leti's cleanroom space to 14,000 m².
It will house more than 80 state of the art cleanroom tools, including advanced lithography equipment.
Two basement levels help manage complex technical installations.
A five-meter ceiling height accommodates large equipment.
Very low vibration levels and dedicated electrical back-up systems will ensure uninterrupted operation