On the initiative of Dutch Minister Beljaarts (Economic Affairs), 9 countries have agreed with each other to strengthen the European semiconductor industry. The ministers of Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and Spain established today, March 12, 2025, in Brussels the so-called Semicon Coalition. The collaboration focuses on additional innovation, extending the European position to other parts of the value chain and bringing technology to market faster.
Semiconductors are a building block for virtually all business processes, devices, machines and consumer products. Strengthening the European position in this chain is not only an economic priority but also a strategic necessity for maintaining prosperity and security, according to the 9 countries. Better cooperation also helps to improve European autonomy, resilience and earning power. For its goals, the coalition partners with the European Commission, which was present at the launch today.
Minister Dirk Beljaarts (Economic Affairs): "The economics ministers of the countries involved all subscribe to the fact that European countries, industry and knowledge institutes must cooperate more intensively. Not a little more, but a lot more. We have agreed, for the first time, to draw up a joint approach to increase production capacity, to have more public and private funding for the latest semiconductor technologies and applications, and to invest in sufficiently trained people who can work in this sector."
Goals of the coalition include expanding production capacity within the EU and further strengthening current European global players in the semiconductor value chain. The nine-country initiative also responds to the global increase in public investment in the sector. For example, there is currently through the
EU Chips Act a combined €43 billion in funding available for the European semiconductor chain. Other major international billion-dollar projects include the
CHIPS & Science Act in the US,
The Big Fund in China and investments in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The
Semicon Coalition is therefore also going to work with the European Commission for the longer term to look at how to support it.
