SEMI Europe wants the next EU chip policy to focus on industrial results, supply-chain resilience, faster approvals, and stronger links from research to production.
SEMI Europe published a position paper on April 27, 2026, calling for a “Chips Act 2.0” designed to transform Europe’s semiconductor policy into a practical industrial instrument. The group’s recommendations emphasize urgent needs in scale-up, supply-chain resilience, streamlined procedures, and stronger integration of research with production. While the first European Chips Act marked an important milestone by catalyzing over €69 billion in investments, SEMI Europe highlights structural challenges that could limit its lasting impact on the continent’s semiconductor industry.
Europe’s chip strategy is transitioning from addressing emergency shortages toward establishing sustainable industrial capacity. As semiconductors are foundational to many everyday products—from automobiles and smartphones to medical devices and data servers—the supply disruptions of recent years revealed vulnerabilities across numerous sectors. The European Commission notes that recent chip shortages have affected manufacturing timelines and product availability, making robust semiconductor capabilities a matter of broad public and economic interest.
The position paper puts forward six policy recommendations. First, it urges closing the industrialization gap by allocating dedicated funding for industry involvement in research pilot-line projects and establishing pilot-line programs tailored to smaller firms such as SMEs, startups, and scale-ups. SEMI Europe cautions that research efforts will have limited industrial impact if companies cannot participate or adopt new technologies economically.
SEMI Europe asserts that subsidies alone are insufficient: lasting gains require integration across research, design, materials, equipment, fabrication, packaging, and aligned market demand.
Second, the group calls for expanding the EU’s “First-of-a-Kind” framework beyond manufacturing facilities to include chip design, design tools, materials, components, equipment, and associated research and development activities. This reflects a push to treat semiconductor supply chains as integrated ecosystems, not discrete factories.
Third, SEMI Europe recommends procedural improvements like simplifying administrative and reporting requirements, and creating a single European Commission contact point for Pillar II funding applications. The current validation of First-of-a-Kind status and state-aid provision reportedly takes nine to twelve months, which the group notes is slower than timelines in competing regions. This delay poses a challenge for investors requiring predictable processes.
Fourth, SEMI Europe stresses aligning semiconductor policy with broader European technology strategies, including AI, quantum tech, automotive innovation, renewable energy, and workforce development. The effectiveness of boosting chip capacity depends in part on coherent demand from industries that utilize those chips.
Fifth, it advocates extending the policy toolbox with a dedicated Chips Act governance body, targeted tax incentives, measures adjusted for company size, access to water and energy resources, and support for semiconductor consortiums. Recognizing that manufacturing semiconductors involves complex infrastructure beyond equipment and capital, this approach addresses power, water, skilled labor, local permitting, and long-term market stability.
Lastly, the paper emphasizes more systematic consultation processes among the European Commission, Member States, the European Semiconductor Board, and industry stakeholders, while protecting sensitive business data. This aims to balance necessary supply-chain visibility with companies’ concerns about confidentiality, fostering trust and collaboration.
The European Chips Act itself came into force on September 21, 2023, and is designed to reinforce the EU semiconductor ecosystem, improve supply-chain resilience, reduce external dependencies, and help Europe achieve its goal of doubling its global semiconductor market share to 20%.
For everyday consumers and businesses, semiconductor policy underpins the availability and reliability of critical technologies—from cars and home electronics to medical equipment and cloud services. Enhancing Europe’s semiconductor resilience may not immediately lower device prices, but it could significantly reduce the risk that future global disruptions cascade into shortages or production delays across multiple sectors.
