5th automotive chiplet forum

Imec’s 5th Automotive Chiplet Forum (ACF) took place on April 1-2, 2025, at Arm’s headquarters in Cambridge, UK. This star-member-only event brought together over 120 key industry leaders and experts from the automotive and semiconductor sectors. It provided a unique platform for in-depth discussions and presentations on the future of chiplet technology in automotive applications.

Explore this article for an overview of the speakers and topics, and exciting announcements in automotive chiplet research.

Unifying two worlds: a vision for the future of automotive technology

At the heart of the discussions was the need to bridge two worlds. Bart Placklé, vice president of automotive at imec, encapsulated the ACF’s mission:

A car today is defined by the technology inside it — making your ride safe, enjoyable, and no longer a waste of time. Such technology can only be achieved by merging two worlds: traditional semiconductors and the new high-performance compute platform. If we succeed in this unification, we can deliver highly competitive products. This is one of the core reasons we founded star.

This statement set the tone for the event, emphasizing the importance of chiplet-based technology in the automotive sector.

A stellar lineup of thought leaders

The forum kicked off with keynotes from industry leaders, providing insights into the future of automotive chiplet technology:

- Mark Hambleton, Senior Vice President Software, welcomed attendees to Arm and the Automotive Chiplet Forum.

- Bart Placklé, vice president of automotive at imec, highlighted imec’s vision for chiplet technology. As vehicles become increasingly software-defined, the need for modular and flexible chip designs is more critical than ever.

- Kurt Herremans joined virtually to provide a keynote on the Automotive Chiplet Program (ACP), detailing its key initiatives and future developments.

The conference featured a diverse range of presentations and panel discussions from renowned organizations, with topics ranging from chiplet-based packaging solutions to the role of open-foundry approaches in advancing the European chiplet ecosystem:

- Chiplet pathway to software-defined vehicles – John Kourentis, Arm Lead at Arm
- Development of advanced SoC research for automobiles – Nobuaki Kawahara, Managing Director of Advanced SoC Research for Automotive (ASRA)
- Key considerations for chiplet-based advanced packing in automotive – Marco Vrouwe, Deputy Account Director, Emerging Business at TSMC
- Open foundry for advanced packaging and micro-integration: an opportunity for the European chiplet ecosystem – Torsten Grawunder, Senior Systems Designer Embedded Solutions at Swissbit
- An open platform realizing an ADAS/IVI HW/SW PoC incorporating the ACP/ASRA chiplet standards – Sandeep Kumar, CEO of L&T Semiconductor Technologies
- Advanced packaging innovation for automotive enablement – Christophe Zinck, Director of Technical Program Management at ASE
- Organic interposers and IC substrates: roadmap to the next level of heterogeneous integration with chiplets – Harald Gall, R&D Strategy Development at AT&S
- Hybrid architecture for in-vehicle infotainment chiplet – Jingyeong Kim, Senior Vice President of LG Electronics
- Coherent network-on-chip for automotive chiplets – Laurent Moll, Chief Operating Officer of Arteris
- Optimizing test in the era of complexity – Thomas Koehler, Product Manager at Teradyne
- Implementing security in chiplets for trustworthy systems in package – Junie Um, Distinguished Engineer and Sylvain Guilley Co-Founder and CTO at Secure-IC
- A chiplet strategy to address the scalability of future ADAS systems – Young-Hun Kluge, Senior VP Business Development at BOS Semiconductors

Networking opportunities and deep-dive sessions

In addition to the main presentations, attendees had the opportunity to engage in deep-dive sessions, which provided a platform to share expertise on some of the most pressing questions facing the automotive and semiconductor industries:

- UCIe in automotive – Hosted by Éricles Sousa from Cadence
- ACP architecture readout/use case – Hosted by Ludovic Rota, Philliple Lecluse, and Bart Placklé from imec
- How to finance the chiplet transition – Hosted by Peter Vandersteegen and Dieter Hoffend from imec
- Design-for-test (DFT) – Hosted by Martin Keim from Siemens

A new era of automotive chiplet collaboration

One of the most exciting announcements during the forum was the unveiling of the Advanced Chip Design Accelerator (ACDA) by imec. The ACDA precompetitive work will focus on integrating chiplets from the ecosystem, new package integration and designs, methods and technology system integration based on Automotive Chiplet Program learnings, and edge AI – all with the goal of building pre-competitive reference designs to accelerate and derisk migration to chiplets.

The ACDA is set to play a pivotal role in accelerating the introduction of automotive chiplets into manufacturing, supporting both local and international industries.

After the conference, EE Times interviewed Bart Placklé. He discussed the progress of imec's automotive chiplet program and its future milestones, including the development of ACDA.

Looking ahead: shaping the future of automotive technology

As the automotive industry continues to evolve, the importance of chiplet-based solutions will only grow. By enabling modular and scalable architectures, chiplets provide an ideal solution for meeting the increasingly complex demands of modern vehicles, from autonomous driving to enhanced in-cabin experiences.

Imec’s 5th Automotive Chiplet Forum highlighted the critical role of collaboration in advancing this technology. With the continued support of its growing network of partners, imec is well-positioned to lead the way in driving the next generation of automotive innovations.

Stay tuned for more information on imec’s next Automotive Chiplet Forum, where the industry will continue to drive the conversation on how chiplet technology will shape the future of the automotive industry.

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For more information on the Automotive Chiplet Forum contact us at info@star-semicon.com.