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“First-of-a-kind” facilities are new or upgraded semiconductor manufacturing facilities providing a dimension of innovation not yet present in the EU market. Such facilities can apply to the Commission to obtain the status of “integrated production facility” (IPF) or “open EU foundry” (OEF), which entitles them to streamlined administrative applications and a priority access to the pilot lines.
Undertakings that are then recognised as having the status of IPF and OEF will be essential contributors to the security of supply and resilience of the Union’s semiconductor sector. Moreover during times of crisis, the Commission, can ask IPFs or OEFs to prioritise the supply of an order of crisis relevant products.
While the application for the IPF and OEF status is a separate procedure from the State aid assessment of first-of-a-kind, these two procedures and the respective assessments are interlinked and conducted, where possible, in parallel by the Commission.
The guidance published by the Commission aims to support undertakings to navigate the rolling application process to gain the status of IPF and OEF, to understand the eligibility criteria, and to prepare the supporting documents needed to apply.