Tim Tiek spearheads Twente’s chip ambitions

Former Bruco CEO Tim Tiek has been installed as general manager of Chiptech Twente, an initiative kicked off last year to boost Twente’s electronic design and manufacturing prowess. Supported by a 600,000-euro investment from the Twente Board, Tiek will be tasked with strengthening the local semiconductor value chain, set up a research program for heterogeneous chip systems and develop a vision for a foundry to manufacture these systems.

“Whereas Eindhoven is known worldwide for its semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as ASML, Twente is strong in chip design, photonics, nanotechnology, quantum and microfluidics. The presence of high-quality knowledge about these latest technologies gives us a unique position on the world stage. But we must maintain, build on and convert this lead into commercial success, or we’ll rapidly lose this position. If it’s possible anywhere to merge the above technologies into new products and systems, it’s in Twente,” says Tiek.

The initiative is industry driven. Assisted by a program manager, Tiek will work with roughly fifty companies and the University of Twente, Saxion University of Applied Sciences and the regional community college ROC van Twente to polish R&D roadmaps. Attracting and retaining talent will also be high on his agenda; companies in the cluster expect to need to create about a thousand new jobs in the next five years.