Ultra-Low Power Chips for Autonomous Vehicles Using Europe's Own Semiconductor Technology

Imagine your car's computer brain needs to run dozens of cameras, radar, and sensors all at once — but if the chips use too much power, they overheat and drain the battery fast. OCEAN12 built a European semiconductor platform that makes processors sip power instead of guzzle it, by using a special silicon-on-insulator technique that lets chips run at much lower voltages. Think of it like replacing a gas-guzzling engine with an efficient electric motor, but for the tiny processors inside cars and aircraft. The result is chips that can handle autonomous driving tasks while staying cool, reliable, and affordable enough for mass production.

What needed solving

Autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems demand enormous computing power for processing camera feeds, radar data, and sensor fusion in real time — but traditional chips consume too much power, generate excessive heat, and drive up system costs. European automakers and Tier-1 suppliers face the additional risk of depending on non-European semiconductor supply chains for these safety-critical components.

What was built

OCEAN12 delivered a European FDSOI technology platform targeting the 12nm node, with pilot line manufacturing for advanced substrates. Concrete demonstrators include a microphone with wake-up functionality and a wake-up component, plus designs for a high-end microcontroller board, sensor data fusion system, and low-power video processing — all built on ultra-low power FDSOI chips.

Who needs this

Who can put this to work

Quick answers

Who built it

This is a heavyweight European semiconductor consortium with 32 partners across 8 countries, led by Soitec SA — the world's leading supplier of silicon-on-insulator wafers. The 62% industry ratio (20 companies) signals this was built for commercialization, not academic publishing. The consortium covers the entire value chain from substrate manufacturing through chip design to final automotive integration by OEMs. With 9 SMEs involved, there are smaller specialized players who may be more accessible for partnerships. The geographic spread across France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Greece, Poland, Portugal, and Romania represents a genuine pan-European supply chain capability.

• SOITEC SACoordinator · FR
• KALRAY SAparticipant · FR
• INSTITUTO DE TELECOMUNICACOESparticipant · PT
• GLOBALFOUNDRIES Dresden Module One LLC & Co. KGparticipant · DE
• M3 SYSTEMS SASparticipant · FR
• INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLEparticipant · FR
• ROBERT BOSCH GMBHparticipant · DE
• EV GROUP E. THALLNER GMBHparticipant · AT
• AED VANTAGE GMBHparticipant · DE
• STMICROELECTRONICS (GRAND OUEST) SASthirdparty · FR
• COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVESparticipant · FR
• UNITY SEMICONDUCTOR GMBHparticipant · DE
• AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE GMBHparticipant · DE
• ISD LYSEIS OLOKRIROMENON SYSTIMATONANONYMOS ETAIREIAparticipant · EL
• STMICROELECTRONICS ROUSSET SASparticipant · FR
• AUDI AKTIENGESELLSCHAFTparticipant · DE
• UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUXparticipant · FR
• UNIVERSITATEA NATIONALA DE STIINTASI TEHNOLOGIE POLITEHNICA BUCURESTIparticipant · RO
• POLITECHNIKA WARSZAWSKAparticipant · PL
• INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE BORDEAUXthirdparty · FR
• MUNEDA GMBHparticipant · DE
• EBERHARD KARLS UNIVERSITAET TUEBINGENparticipant · DE
• EVOTEL INFORMATICA SLparticipant · ES
• ION BEAM SERVICESparticipant · FR
• THALESparticipant · FR
• STMICROELECTRONICS GRENOBLE 2 SASparticipant · FR
• UNIVERSITAET DER BUNDESWEHR MUENCHENparticipant · DE
• UNIVERSITAET PADERBORNparticipant · DE
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDENparticipant · DE