The cost of Europe's sovereignty in semiconductors is $700 billion

According to a report by the Thinktank Leaders Hub Institute for Digital Transformation and Innovation, achieving Europe's full digital sovereignty in the area of semiconductors would require an additional investment of around 700 billion dollars over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, a 'budget' scenario—limited to only key areas—would require investments of about 300 billion dollars. The estimated costs include 240 to 300 billion dollars in initial investments and an additional 25–60 billion dollars annually for maintenance, which amounts to approximately 700 billion dollars over a decade. The report presents a set of recommendations for Europe, with the first priority being to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain, particularly by ensuring access to key materials and intermediates for factories located in Europe. This should lead to a review of the supply chain and support for relevant investments in the chemical industry and solutions related to intermediates for preparing silicon wafers. Other areas needing improvement and significant financial outlays include miniaturization and next-generation chip production technologies, aiming to maintain European companies' strong position in the production equipment segment. The report also highlights the need to build competencies in chip design software and preparation for production, proposing enhanced collaboration between companies in the automotive, telecommunications, and industrial sectors through experience sharing and joint projects based on System-on-Chip solutions. Additionally, it suggests increasing cooperation among European chip manufacturers and continuing strategic relationships with global giants like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung, who are key partners for building the most advanced factories in Europe. The recommendations also include support for the production and assembly of RAM and data storage devices in Europe. The report emphasizes that no region in the world is currently self-sufficient in semiconductors; the US, China, and South Korea are the closest, but even they have not achieved full independence. Europe and Japan face significant challenges and have a long way to go to catch up with the leaders