EU consortium PREVAIL to open services to customers

Coordinated by the EU’s four leading research and technology organisations (RTOs) - CEA-Leti in France, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany, imec in Belgium and VTT in Finland, the PREVAIL project offers a networked, multi-hub platform for prototype chip fabrication in advanced AI technology to EU stakeholders.

The PREVAIL project aims to provide Europe with an accessible, advanced manufacturing infrastructure that enables users to create early research samples of innovative and reliable Edge AI products, accelerating their path to commercialisation. By advancing their cutting-edge technologies to higher maturity levels and enabling users to fabricate and evaluate AI demonstrators, the RTOs benefit from technological cross-fertilisation.

In most cases, the technology offerings will be based on commercial foundry processes, complemented with advanced technology modules added by post-processing made in the clean rooms of the project partners. The main technology modules offered are eNVM (Embedded Non-Volatile-Memories), silicon photonics processes, and Si interposer with advanced 3D assembly and packaging technologies.

During the first two years of the project, the consortium achieved several key milestones, including the acquisition of essential equipment, the setup of clean room facilities, and the design of initial demonstrators. Currently, efforts are focused on the installation and deployment of the equipment to develop innovative technological modules, and in partnership with selected industry partners, Prevail has started the fabrication of one of the early demonstrators at the RTOs facilities.

The demonstrators are early-stage design concepts intended to serve as test cases ensuring that a wide range of applications, needs and technological requirements are addressed, laying the groundwork for robust and scalable manufacturing processes.

This collaborative effort will gradually open access for EU designers in June 2025, providing access to Process Design Kits (PDKs) and Design Rule Manuals (DRMs) compatible with standard commercial CAD tools and all the elements necessary for full chip design and virtual or real device demonstrators. A user interface team has been set up to manage relationships between the developers of next-generation Edge AI solutions and the consortium. Technical inquiries can be submitted via the project website.

A call for the EU-funded 'Low Power Edge AI' project is planned to be launched in July 2025. The EU has allocated €20 million to help select a set of customers co-financing their use of the new multi-hub TEF Edge AI Hardware. Current and future customers of the pilot lines, whether participating in European Commission-funded projects or operating independently of EU subsidies, could design their own Edge AI chip using one of the following four shared platforms made available by the RTOs through PREVAIL: eNMVs, 3D integration, and silicon photonics and connectivity, and RF network.