Boosting Europe's semiconductor sovereignty: Building on existing strengths
Europe’s semiconductor industry accounts for less than 10% of global chip manufacturing, but it has stronger weight in key niche areas—especially automotive, industrial, aerospace, and power electronics. With leaders like Infineon, NXP, STMicroelectronics and ASML, Europe’s strength lies in specialized chips, equipment and upstream technologies.
While the EU Chips Act aims to boost self-sufficiency, current Europe’s competitive edge is in specialized components and upstream technologies, and there is an opportunity to strengthen these existing strongholds and thus create better premises for expansion to new opportunity areas and applications.
In this post we are discussing one of the great examples that have the potential to be European-originated game-changers: How atomic-level cleanliness solution can improve competitiveness of the semiconductor companies.
Why Atomic-Level Quality Matters
At nanometer scales, even the smallest defect—a misplaced atom or a trace contaminant—can ruin yield, compromise performance or degrade energy efficiency. Semiconductor interfaces are particularly sensitive. These boundary layers are critical in devices like power chips, sensors and analogue components, which dominate Europe’s semiconductor landscape.
By reducing defects and ensuring ultra-clean interfaces, manufacturers can improve energy efficiency in power semiconductors used in electric vehicles, industrial drives and aerospace systems. Furthermore, signal accuracy and stability in analogue and sensor chips can be enhanced, critical for safety and automation. There will be also boost to yield and reliability, leading to lower production costs and faster time-to-market.
These benefits are especially impactful for Europe, where high-performance, high-reliability chips—rather than mass-market CPUs—form the backbone of its semiconductor exports.
The strategic link to Europe’s strongholds
Automotive and power semiconductors
Europe commands ~37% of the global automotive semiconductor market. With electric vehicles and ADAS requiring high-efficiency, high-reliability chips, reducing atomic-level defects in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) substrates becomes a competitive differentiator. Better materials lead to more compact, more efficient, and longer-lasting power electronics.Aerospace, defence & space
For flight control, navigation, and satellite systems, performance under extreme conditions is non-negotiable. Interface contamination or variability can result in catastrophic failures. Enhancing material purity and reducing interface traps is key to meeting aerospace-grade reliability standards.Industrial and sensor applications
In industrial IoT, automation and robotics, analogue and mixed-signal chips translate physical data into actionable intelligence. The more accurate and noise-free the signal, the better the system performs. Precision in semiconductor interfaces improves signal integrity and reduces calibration needs.Manufacturing equipment and substrates
Europe also leads in semiconductor equipment and materials—thanks to ASML, ASM International, Soitec and Siltronic. These companies and the emerging manufacturing equipment manufacturer startups can pioneer tools and wafers that reduce contamination and improve interface control during deposition, etching and patterning processes. As defect-free manufacturing becomes more critical, European suppliers can set new standards for global fabs.
Competitive upside
Putting attention on the reducing atomic-level impurities allows to reinforce value proposition in high-reliability applications, where failure is not an option. Furthermore, it increases manufacturing yield and profitability for IDM players. As regards to European goals for strategic autonomy as stated in the EU Chips Act, there is an opportunity to do drive demand for European equipment and materials, as cleaner processes become the norm.
