Semiconductors and chips are ever-present in our current digital world. From smart sensors and the industrial Internet of Things to Digital Cities, personalized Medecine, Precision Agriculture, Vehicle Automation, and Cloud & High Performance Computing, semiconductor applications cover a very wide spectrum of society’s needs. However, global warming is highlighting the social and environmental impact of the digital transition, and the complex trade-offs and choices that lie ahead if we are to build a sustainable world. How do we pursue digitalization taking into account a limited power budget and the planetary limits? How do we make greener choices in the face of ever-increasing/aggressive competition? How do we choose the right digital performance for each application instead of a one-size-fits-all scenario, with a best performance for all approach? The semiconductor ecosystem is indeed facing a difficult dilemma with complex key tradeoffs.

With these stakes clearly in mind, the semiconductor community is performing disruptive research to provide greener electronics, able to attain very large gains in energy efficiency and just the right performance for each application. With the help of AI-boosted design methodologies and CAD tools, we have set out to co-optimize innovative CMOS technologies, disruptive chip architectures, computing models with new algorithms for embedded software.

This paper will provide an overview of the global semiconductor landscape and the challenge of mastering the data deluge for the entire semiconductor ecosystem. In order to face this challenge, we must all work together to reduce the collection, transport and storage of fruitless data.

This keynote will spend some time describing recent results from CEA-Leti and CEA-List’s research on sustainable and greener technologies.

To conclude, I will present an overview of the European Chips Act initiative, with the launch of the pilot lines, the Design Platforms and Competence Centers, a pan-European program that will be driving key milestones in the next five years to accelerate the accomplishment of our common goal of a sustainable and sovereign digital Europe.