The new Chips Act 2.0 supports Finland’s next deep tech success stories – the semiconductor and quantum sectors are now attracting unprecedented levels of investment
- FiCCC
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
Semiconductors are the most important driver of economic growth. Europe’s technological competitiveness is increasingly built on semiconductors, photonics, quantum technologies, and microelectronics. At the same time, growth companies in the sector have become the focus of investor interest. The Finnish Chip Competence Centre (FiCCC) brought together a group of Finnish growth companies representing the new European wave of deep tech at the Arctic15 event on June 11–12, 2026, at the Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki.
On June 3, the EU published the new Chips Act 2.0, which main objective is to continuously improve the conditions for investment and competitiveness. Particular attention is being paid to improving the financing conditions for startups and scaling companies.
In recent months, the sector’s appeal to investors has been bolstered by, among other things, the launch of Cloudberry, Europe’s first private equity fund focused on semiconductors. Investor interest is particularly focused on chip technologies, which are expected to form the foundation of technological growth over the next decade. Development efforts are being accelerated by advanced design tools, the strong role of software in hardware development, and European investments in strategic technologies.
“A shared piloting environment that allows the use of specialized equipment without heavy capital investments reduces the risks for companies in the early stages. This accelerates the transition from design to a functional end product, particularly in the quantum and photonics sectors. In this way, we can support companies here that would otherwise spend time and money on expensive prototypes in large semiconductor factories. The pieces for success are in place. The ecosystem now needs specialized capital that truly understands the technology, and more ambitious founders who are ready to commercialize
Why now?
Semiconductors form the foundation of artificial intelligence, data centers, medical technology, quantum computing, defense technology, and industrial digitalization. At the same time, the maturation of the industry has changed the dynamics of investment:
Europe is investing heavily in its own semiconductor expertise and supply chains.
New specialized investment funds are actively seeking out semiconductor and photonics companies.
AI-based solutions enable faster scaling of performance
The commercialization of quantum technology and photonics is advancing rapidly, shortening the path from research to market for many deep-tech innovations.
Many of today’s success stories have grown around strong technology ecosystems.
Now the same phenomenon is visible in the semiconductor and photonics sectors: alongside major success stories, a new generation of high-growth companies is emerging that could become the international success stories of the future.
FiCCC showcased Finland’s most promising growth companies at the Arctic15 event
At Arctic15, held on June 11–12, 2026, at Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki, the Finnish Chip Competence Centre (FiCCC) put Finland’s next deep tech growth stories in the spotlight.
At the FiCCC booth, investors, companies, and media had the opportunity to explore technologies that are driving the next wave of European growth, and which could become the next international success story. FiCCC’s main target was to support startups growth and find investors.
“We managed to matchmake investors to our startups. Arctic15 was a successful event, because we matched companies together to start product development projects. We had many good discussions with startups, investors, and also R2B projects. After the event FiCCC is more known.’’, said Sirpa Salmi from Finnish Chip Competence Center / Head of sales, marketing, skills and talent Kvanttinova
The companies themselves also found the event to be extremely valuable. COO Mika Laiho from Kovilta said that without an invitation from FiCCC to participate, they might not have come.
“We’ve had some really good discussions here, and there have been investors, as well as various companies and organizations. We’ve gotten some pretty good feedback and made some good contacts. You guys made it really easy for us to come here. You took care of all the arrangements. All we had to do was show up and get involved.”
The following companies were on-site to showcase their operations:
The company is addressing the quality and performance challenges of modern chips. It does this by minimizing atomic-level impurities at the interfaces of semiconductors.
A company that started with manufacturing mechanical watches and now offers its precision engineering expertise to high-tech companies.
A company that offers parallel-processor Integrated Circuit technology, embedded systems and algorithms for the next level of image sensing and processing.
A health technology company that uses advanced sensors and data analytics to monitor people’s well-being and health.
A company developing medical imaging and diagnostic solutions, whose technologies combine deep tech, data, and cutting-edge electronics.
A company that develops measurement and analytics solutions for ALD processes in the semiconductor industry, whose technology supports the quality and efficiency of chip manufacturing.
