At the 2025 IEEE International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC), imec, a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, has presented Ru lines at 16nm pitch with average resistance as low as 656Ω/µm. The 16nm pitch metal lines were fabricated using a semi-damascene integration flow optimized for cost-effective manufacturability, making it an attractive approach for fabricating the first local interconnect metal layer of the A7 and beyond technology nodes.