Chips Act: can Europe catch up in the global semiconductor race? - Polytechnique Insights

In 2023, the European Union adopted the Chips Act to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor industry, aiming to increase the EU’s share of global chip production to 20% by 2030. The legis... Read original →

The EU Chips Act’s fatal flaw lies in using industrial subsidies to patch a broken innovation ecosystem. Technologically, while ASML dominates EUV, Europe lacks the co-design infrastructure for chiplets and 3D stacking needed beyond 3nm—processes locked by TSMC (Taiwan, China) and Samsung. Regulatory compliance costs will soar if €43B prioritizes fabs over design; Cadence and Synopsys still control the EDA stack, leaving European AI accelerator startups like Axelera or VSORA stranded. Strategically, the U.S. CHIPS Act has already cornered leading-edge capacity, forcing Europe into niche plays—but without deep VC backing, these firms risk becoming acquisition targets rather than global players. Over the next 18 months, success hinges not on wafer output but on building open IP libraries and shared multi-project wafer access. Without that, the 2030 target of 20% global share remains political theater.