Ericsson clinches five-year German state funding deal for European 6G research project

Ericsson revealed that it has signed a letter of intent for a five-year funding allocation from Germany’s federal economic affairs and climate ministry to support its regional 6G research hub. The Swedish vendor’s European Microelectronics and Communication Technologies for 6G project is situated at the Rosenheim R&D centre, part of Ericsson Antenna Technology Germany.

German state funding should enable Ericsson to progress early-stage semiconductor research into producing 6G massive MIMO radios that are energy-efficient, sustainable and sourced from within EU borders. Ericsson’s role will also align with industry partners in Europe, it said.

The project has been added to the EU’s Important Project of Common European Interest register, in the section for microelectronics and communication technologies. Ericsson said this initiative has been allocated EU funds totalling EUR 8.1 billion in order to foster R&D across the microelectronics and communication ecosystem. Ericsson is among 56 companies expected to advance R&D using this EU common interest budget.

Freddie Soedergren, head of technology and strategy at Ericsson Networks, predicted future 6G operators would face a challenge in meeting “ever-increasing demand” for human-to-human, human-to-machine, and machine-to-machine communications, especially given the industry’s experience in rolling out 5G use cases that have reached “beyond voice and mobile data”.