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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe EU Chips Act does not automatically give the EU ownership of chip-related intellectual property or change who owns a project’s inventions. Its practical IP impact is mainly on supported actions: programme rules and project agreements govern ownership, protection, access, licensing, exploitation and disclosure of results. Companies joining a Chips Act project should settle those terms before sharing valuable technology.
What the EU Chips Act changes—and what it does not
Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 strengthens the European semiconductor ecosystem across research, design, manufacturing, packaging and supply-chain resilience. It was adopted on 13 September 2023, published in the Official Journal on 18 September 2023 and entered into force on 21 September 2023.
The Act does not replace the existing systems for patents, copyright, designs, semiconductor-product topographies or trade secrets. Nor does receiving Chips Act support, by itself, transfer a participant’s IP to the EU or create a patent. For a supported action, the applicable programme provisions and project agreements determine how results are owned and protected, who may access or exploit them, and how they may be transferred, licensed or disseminated.
The Act’s virtual design platform is intended to connect design houses, start-ups, SMEs, IP and tool suppliers, and research and technology organisations for virtual prototyping through co-development. That makes clear allocation of pre-existing technology and newly created results particularly important where several parties collaborate.
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Which IP and technology rights should a chip project address?
| Asset or right | Typical semiconductor relevance | Practical issue to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Patents and utility models | Technical inventions, chip designs, process equipment and manufacturing methods. | Confirm inventorship and employer assignments; identify background rights and assess freedom to operate before commercialisation. |
| Semiconductor-product topographies and design rights | Protection relevant to chip layouts and designs. | Specify ownership, permitted uses and licence scope. These rights are also among the technology rights covered by the 2026 Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER). |
| Copyright and software | EDA assets, chip-design software, firmware and technical documentation. | Define licence scope, source-code access, modification and derivative-work permissions, and rights to use software in downstream products. |
| Trade secrets and know-how | Process recipes, yield-improvement methods, non-public design data, supplier information and early-stage inventions. | Identify what must remain secret, limit access, and document reasonable protective measures. |
| Standards-essential patents (SEPs) | Patents that may be essential to implementing a technical standard used by a chip or connected device. | Map relevant standards and assess the licensing position, including potential fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) obligations. |
How should a consortium allocate project IP?
Before granting access to technical material, distinguish each participant’s background IP—technology it brings to the project—from foreground results created during the work. A consortium agreement should state who owns each category and how other participants may use it. The applicable funding programme’s rules must also be checked; a contract should not be assumed to override them.
Address at least the following points in the agreement:
- Ownership and inventorship: identify the owner of project results, procedures for recording contributors and inventorship, and how jointly generated inventions will be handled.
- Patent decisions: assign responsibility for filing, prosecution, costs and enforcement, and set a review process before disclosing potentially patentable work.
- Access and exploitation: spell out which participants can use background IP and results, for which project tasks and later uses, including research, prototyping, manufacturing, maintenance and downstream sales.
- Licensing and transfers: specify exclusivity, sublicensing, territory, assignment, change-of-control and exit terms. State whether rights continue if a participant leaves or the project ends.
- Publication and dissemination: set a practical review period so a proposed publication can be checked for confidential information and patentable results before release.
- Confidential information and security: define permitted recipients, access controls, storage, logging, return or destruction, and how security-related transfer restrictions will be reviewed.
- Evidence and accountability: retain records that substantiate ownership, grant compliance, access decisions and protective measures.
When is a trade secret more useful than a patent?
Trade-secret protection can suit valuable semiconductor know-how that is difficult to reverse engineer or that a company does not want to disclose in a patent filing. Under European Commission guidance, information must be non-public, commercially valuable because it is secret, and protected by reasonable measures to keep it secret. Merely labelling material confidential is not enough to establish a robust protection practice.
Build controls around the information itself:
- Keep an inventory of sensitive process recipes, design data, supplier information and other know-how.
- Limit access to people who need the information, and use secure repositories with access logging.
- Use confidentiality markings, employee and contractor non-disclosure agreements, and supplier controls.
- Set rules for copying, sharing, storage, retention and return or destruction of materials.
- Maintain an incident-response record so suspected access or disclosure can be investigated.
Trade secrets have a significant limit: they do not prevent someone from independently developing the same information. The European Commission’s Your Europe guidance states that if another person develops the same information independently, that person may use it freely. A patent strategy can offer different protection, but requires a patentable invention and entails disclosure; the appropriate choice depends on the asset and commercial plan.
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What should companies check before licensing semiconductor technology?
Licensing is not only an IP ownership question. The EU’s 2026 TTBER, which entered into force on 1 May 2026, covers technology-transfer agreements involving know-how, patents, utility models, design rights, semiconductor-product topographies and software copyrights. The accompanying Guidelines and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) are relevant to assessing whether licensing terms restrict competition unlawfully.
Before signing, review the parties’ market positions and the agreement’s territorial limits, exclusivity, grant-back obligations and non-compete provisions against the TTBER and its Guidelines. Do not assume that a clause is lawful just because it appears in an IP licence: the legal treatment depends on the agreement and circumstances. Obtain competition-law advice for transaction-specific terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How do standards and FRAND licensing affect chip companies?
A chip or connected-device company that implements a standard may face SEP licensing obligations. The European Commission describes patents as incentives for research and development and facilitators of knowledge transfer, while standards support technology diffusion and interoperability; it also says a smooth licensing environment is essential to a standard’s success.
Map the standards relevant to the product and the company’s own standards contributions. Before commercial launch, obtain an assessment of potential SEP exposure and document the company’s licensing position and conduct in any FRAND negotiations. Essentiality and licence scope should be evaluated rather than assumed from a patent’s connection to a standard. The Commission also identifies essentiality checks and support for SMEs as important SEP issues.
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When can security or foreign-transfer concerns arise?
The Chips Act allows technology transfers to be protected for Union or national-security reasons in relation to investments in covered facilities. Project participants should therefore identify sensitive know-how, potential foreign-access routes and applicable approval requirements early, rather than waiting until a transfer or investment is imminent.
Build a review into the project’s access and transfer process. Identify who can receive controlled information, where it may be accessed, and whether a proposed licence, disclosure, investment or change of control needs review under the relevant Union or Member-State requirements. The precise requirements depend on the transaction and applicable rules, so involve counsel when strategic interests or cross-border access may be implicated.
What is the status of Chips Act 2.0?
As of 3 October 2026, Chips Act 2.0 is a European Commission proposal, not enacted law. The Commission published the proposal on 3 June 2026 to build on the original Act and address advanced-chip capacity and strategic dependencies. It may lead to further IP-related conditions, but it should not be treated as creating current obligations until the legislative process results in final law.
For now, project participants should work from Regulation (EU) 2023/1781, the relevant funding-programme terms, their consortium and licensing agreements, and other applicable IP, competition and security rules. Monitor the legislative process for changes rather than treating the proposal as a settled rule.
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