European Commission forms processor, semiconductor alliance
The semiconductor alliance is for private and public organizations with representation in the European Union including businesses, governments, academia, users and research and technology organizations. Membership is subject to approval by the European Commission. The alliance will “advance the next generation of microchips,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The Commission said the alliance is intended to address needs and dependencies and define technological roadmaps to ensure Europe can design and manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, while increasing its shares of global production of semiconductors to 20 percent of global output by 2030. Meanwhile the volume of chip production capacity is expected to more than double over the next eight years to create an annual market of $1 trillion.
As off December 2020 Europe was responsible for 5.7 percent of global wafer capacity, according to market analysis firm IC Insights (see China rises in global IC wafer capacity ranking).
This suggests Europe will need to see several times the entire historical capital spend on semiconductors in Europe re-applied in the next seven years.
The European Commission said Europe should build up production capacity at 16nm and 10nm to meet current local needs while at the same time moving to 2nm to anticipate Europe’s future needs.
“The alliance on semiconductors will rebalance global semiconductor supply chains by ensuring that we have the capacity to design and produce, in Europe, the most advanced chips towards 2nm and below,” said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the internal market.
In December 2020, Member States committed to work together to reinforce Europe’s capabilities in semiconductor technologies and offering the best performance for applications in a wide range of sectors. 22 Member States are currently signatories of this initiative (see Europe will try to rebuild semiconductor capability using pandemic recovery funds).
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