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38 EE|Times EUROPE

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING | SAFETY AND SECURITY
Imec’s Vision for Automotive Over

the Long Haul

By Pat Brans
At Imec Technology Forum (ITF) 2025, EE Times Europe caught up with imec’s Bart
Placklé to hear about how the research institute is helping to reimagine computing
architectures for next-generation vehicles.

odern vehicles are fast becoming data centers on wheels,
expected to deliver not just mobility but also autonomy,
safety, and a continuous stream of software updates.
MThese expectations come with an insatiable demand for
high-performance computing—but in a radically different operating
environment from data centers or smartphones. Systems must operate
reliably over the vehicle’s 10- to 15-year lifespan, in harsh conditions
where heat, vibration, and 24/7 uptime are the norm.
That’s where imec comes in. The Belgian research institute is apply-
ing decades of semiconductor innovation to one of the automotive
industry’s most pressing challenges: how to design vehicle computing
platforms that are powerful, cost-effective, and robust over time. “A
car is going to be the most high-end compute device you own,” Bart A chiplet—modular power
Placklé, vice president of under the hood (Source: imec)
automotive at imec, told
EE Times Europe at May’s automotive, and the research institute is backing that belief with its
ITF World 2025 in Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP). “We’ve seen a move to chiplets in
Antwerp, Belgium. “But other deployment scenarios, including HPC, data centers, and tablets,”
it’s not in a temperature- Placklé said. “But when you look at the performance levels needed
controlled server room; for autonomous vehicles, the answer is clear. Cars need that level of
it’s out on the road. And performance and flexibility. They need chiplets.”
once higher levels of The advantages include better yield, cost efficiency, architectural
autonomy enable a shift flexibility, and heterogeneous integration, where each chiplet can be
away from the current optimized for its specific function. But transferring this model to auto-
ownership model, the motive raises new questions: “Will 10,000 connection points survive
systems will be running in a harsh environment for 15 years?” Placklé asked. “That’s one of the
virtually nonstop.” things we’re working to validate.”
According to Placklé, The ACP initiative is now moving from architectural feasibility to
Europe’s rich automotive hands-on implementation. In Heilbronn, Germany, imec’s Advanced
Imec’s Bart Placklé, pictured here at heritage and emerging Chip Design Accelerator is creating functional reference platforms
ITF World 2025 (Source: imec) semiconductor strategy to demonstrate chiplet viability in real-world automotive scenarios.
place it in a unique posi- “We’re not building products,” Placklé said. “We’re building reference
tion to lead the convergence of mobility and microelectronics. With models for ECUs based on chiplets. These are our A samples—proof
initiatives like the European Chips Act backing local development, points that help OEMs evaluate the technology and gain confidence.”
imec finds itself at the heart of this transformation. “Europe is strong Beyond design, imec is testing these packages under stress, using
in automotive,” Placklé said. “It has the OEMs, the Tier 1s, and a long
history. Imec brings the deep tech—advanced packaging, chiplet archi-
tectures, and system integration. We take cutting-edge research and
prepare it for automotive-grade industrial execution.”
For decades, monolithic systems-on-chip powered everything from
smartphones to vehicle electronic control units (ECUs). But as the
demand for compute in autonomous and connected vehicles explodes,
this traditional approach is showing its limits. “You can’t afford to
throw away a billion-dollar design because of a single yield issue,”
Placklé said.
REINVENTING VEHICLE COMPUTE ARCHITECTURES
WITH CHIPLETS
Chiplets—smaller, modular processing units that can be combined
in a single package—have already proven their value in data centers A visualization of a chiplet enabling scalable, high-performance
and consumer devices. Now, imec believes they should be used in computing in a next-gen vehicle (Source: imec)

JUNE 2025 | www.eetimes.eu