The project comes in the context of the European Union’s endeavor to increase its production of these basic components of the digital industry and the environmental transformation that Asia is currently dominating.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday urged European Union countries to invest in “large-scale production” of semiconductors on the continent to reduce dependence on Asia in this strategic sector.
“We need large-scale production in Europe,” she said while attending the start-up ceremony for construction of a huge semiconductor plant in Dresden, eastern Germany, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Through this investment of more than five billion euros, the German group “Infineon” will produce, starting in 2026, silicon wafers with a diameter of 300 mm for semiconductors.
The project comes in the context of the European Union’s endeavor to increase its production of these basic components of the digital industry and the environmental transformation that Asia is currently dominating.
The twenty-seven member states of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed in mid-April that the bloc’s production will reach 20% of the global market in 2030, twice what it is currently.
“We all see how high the geopolitical risks are. That is why it is imperative that Europe strengthen its supply chains,” von der Leyen added.
“This requires increasing our market share and production capacity,” she added.
Geopolitical tensions around Taiwan, which is one of the world’s largest microchip manufacturers through the TSMC Group, is adding to concerns about supply while the sector has experienced shortages in recent years due to the Covid outbreak and increased demand.
These chips are essential to industry, especially green technologies (batteries, wind turbines, solar energy) and digital technology.
In turn, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed on Tuesday that chips are “the oil of the twenty-first century,” adding, “We need semiconductors, a lot of semiconductors.”
Germany is a stronghold of semiconductor production in Europe, particularly the Dresden region, which is nicknamed “Silicon Saxony”.
In addition to German groups such as “Bosch” and “Infineon”, the American “Intel” owns a developed factory project in the German city of Magdeburg (northeast).
