Source: The Next Web
IMEC's breakthrough in RF silicon manufacturing at 325GHz matters because it addresses the fundamental economics blocking 6G deployment. Previous mmWave and terahertz chips required exotic materials and bespoke fabrication, pricing them out of mass-market applications. By delivering this performance on standard 300mm wafers using conventional semiconductor processes, IMEC converts what was a physics problem into a manufacturing one—one the industry already knows how to solve at scale. The 600-company consortium backing IMEC signals genuine momentum: the chip exists, the manufacturing pathway exists, and the remaining work is engineering rather than research.