semiconductor supply chain

Geopolitical shifts, rapid technological advancement, and supply chain pressures continue to redefine the global semiconductor landscape. These forces framed the discussions at the 2025 SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium Europe (ISS Europe), held in Sopot, Poland. Over two days, industry leaders, and policymakers examined how Europe can boost resilience amid growing uncertainty.Artificial intelligence (AI) stood out as a key driver—powering global chip demand and transforming industry operations. In the past year, AI applications like generative models and edge computing helped push chip sales to new highs. The EU Chips Act, effective since September 2023, also fueled change. It has drawn tens of billions of euros into European semiconductor infrastructure, including major investments in Pomerania, the host region for this year’s symposium. “With AI expected to drive exponential growth in the semiconductor industry—projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030—Europe must act collectively to remain competitive,” said Laith Altimime, President of SEMI Europe. “We encourage collaboration across all countries to strengthen supply chain resilience, mitigate geopolitical risks, and harness the full potential of our diverse talent base.”Laith Altimime, President, SEMI EuropeSo what has the EU’s investment in the semiconductor industry achieved, and how much more remains to be done? Gustav Kalbe, Acting Director of Enabling and Emerging Technologies at the European Commission, cited €80 billion in public and private investment in European fabs as clear progress toward introducing "advanced technology that has not before been deployed on the continent of Europe." However, Kalbe emphasized a new urgency driven by AI’s rise. “We need in Europe a secure supply chain for AI chips in key sectors—particularly automotive,” said Kalbe. “That’s why we are really pushing for accelerated development of AI chips here.”Gustav Kalbe, Acting Director of Enabling and emerging technologies,DG CNECT, European CommissionPoland is a prime example of the EU Chips Act’s impact—driven by consistent government support. Dariusz Standerski, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Digital Affairs, highlighted Poland’s seven-pillar national semiconductor strategy, which includes expanding infrastructure and increasing engineering talent by 20% by 2030. “We need to build our production capacity to meet the strategic needs of Poland,” said Standerski. “Semiconductors are important not only because of market size, but because of their role in national security.”Dariusz Standerski, Secretary of State, Ministry of Digital Affairs, PolandRisks to the Industry from a World in Political TurmoilGeopolitical shifts and market volatility dominated the opening session of ISS Europe 2025. Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons, warned that despite strong 2024 revenues, industry fundamentals remain fragile. “All of the growth is in graphics processing units (GPUs) for AI and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers—every other product sector is currently in recession,” said Penn. He forecast 12% industry growth in 2025 but cautioned against overcapacity and price pressures from China. “We are not seeing unit growth, and without unit growth, you don’t have sustainable market growth,” explained Penn. “If momentum in AI slows, the industry could face a significant retrenchment.”Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future HorizonsLooking beyond the immediate outlook for semiconductors, Hendrik Bourgeois, Vice President for European Governmental Affairs at Intel, turned the spotlight onbroader economic and security challenges facing the region. Bourgeois outlined four strategic policy priorities for Europe: Build internal strength to ensure external (global) relevance;Deepen alliances beyond the United States—such as with the UK, Canada, Japan, and South Korea;Be open to a stronger economic relationship with China;Recognize that the U.S. is more than its federal government: states, cities, people and corporations all have a role to play in bringing stability and certainty.Hendrik Bourgeois, Vice President for European Governmental Affairs, IntelBenedikt Ernst, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, emphasized the strategic importance of strengthening Europe’s domestic semiconductor ecosystem. “No country or region can be fully self-sufficient,” said Ernst. “But Europe is particularly strong in domains like advanced materials, fabrication equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing. We have leading players in these fields – let’s bet on them.”Benedikt Ernst, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy Transformation, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, GermanyMikolaj Trunin, Deputy Director of the Invest in Pomerania, and its Strategic Investment Manager Radoslaw Bojarczuk, highlighted the region’s rising profile among global investors. Despite a global downturn in foreign direct investment (FDI) since 2015, the region stretching from Gdansk and Warsaw to Dresden and Magdeburg is emerging as a vibrant semiconductor hub. “The environment is becoming increasingly attractive to outside investors drawn by the region’s large talent pool, robust venture capital activity, and strong and stable economic growth,” said Trunin.Left: Mikołaj Trunin, Deputy Director, Invest in PomeraniaRight: Radosław Bojarczuk, Strategic Investment Manager, Invest in PomeraniaAdvancing on the Roadmap to Net ZeroThe symposium’s second session tackled sustainability—how to grow the industry beyond $1 trillion in revenue while cutting emissions. AI emerged as a key enabler of sustainable innovation. Bill Lussier, Managing Director of Tokyo Electron Europe, highlighted recycled aluminum which has a much lower carbon footprint, but noted that semiconductor equipment requires ultra-pure aluminum, which is not available off-the-shelf in recycled form. “The solution is to create a new circular economy for ultra-pure aluminum—a supply chain so complex that it cannot be managed without the aid of AI,” explained Lussier.Bill Lussier, Managing Director, Tokyo Electron EuropeAI is also helping decarbonize logistics, a critical yet often overlooked part of the semiconductor ecosystem. Rainer Kiefer, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sales at Schenker AG, underscored the environmental cost of air cargo: “We need smart supply chain design to reduce the air miles of chips.” AI supports this by optimizing routing, loads, predictive maintenance, and demand forecasting. Rainer Kiefer, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Sales, Schenker AGHowever, AI brings new energy demands. Malgorzata Kasperska, Vice President of Secure Power at Schneider Electric, urged greater efficiency in AI data centers: “We need to optimize both power capacity and efficiency, and deploy high-density infrastructure, all while enhancing sustainability practices.” Malgorzata Kasperska, Vice President of Secure Power, Schneider ElectricEnergy-intensive fab operations remain a major challenge. Charles Vaillant, Chief Technology Officer at MANN+HUMMEL, noted that heating and ventilation account for up to 50% of a fab’s energy use. To improve efficiency, the company introduced a filtration system using activated carbon ceramic technology. The innovation reduces pressure drop, cutting fan energy use and delivering up to 41% energy savings in cleanroom environments.Charles Vaillant, Chief Technology Officer at MANN+HUMMELFinding the Talent to Fuel the Industry’s GrowthAttracting and developing talent remains a critical challenge for the semiconductor industry. Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the OECD, cited a visibility gap: “Young people don’t see these engineering and IT jobs. You cannot be what you do not see.” Meike Boekelmann, Chief Human Resources Officer at Comet, echoed the sentiment. “Face-to-face, we can get people excited about joining our industry,” said Boekelmann. “The challenge is getting them in front of us in the first place.” Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills,Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)In a panel discussion on Bridging the Talent Gap for Sustainable Growth, moderated by SEMI Europe’s Maria Daniela Perez, speakers explored how industry and academia can better collaborate to meet evolving workforce demands. Thomas Kralinski, Saxon State Secretary of Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Climate, emphasized the importance of future-ready education. “Do we know which fab is going to be built in 2035, or which start-up will be founded? No—but all the people who will work there are already alive. We need education to prepare these people for this unknown future.Thomas Kralinski, Saxon State Secretary of Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and ClimatePanel Discussion on Bridging the Talent Gap for Sustainable GrowthAI Intensifies Scale of Innovation in Semiconductor FabricationDay two of ISS Europe 2025 spotlighted AI’s transformative impact on semiconductor innovation, from materials to manufacturing and chip design. John Behnke, General Manager for Smart Manufacturing at INFICON, emphasized AI’s growing role in managing fab complexity. “You need a lot of highly knowledgeable people to run a fab today,” said Behnke. “They must analyze huge amounts of data, and balance priorities like quality, on-time delivery, cycle time, and profitability.” In the future, he explained, AI-powered optimization engines will shoulder that burden by making autonomous decisions.John Behnke, General Manager for Smart Manufacturing, INFICONJean-Christophe Eloy, CEO of Yole Group, pointed to the rapid growth of data centers as a catalyst for architectural transformation, predicting a shift from monolithic AI ASICs to chiplet-based designs. “In the future, we can expect to see much of the value in the semiconductor business transfer from the front-end chip to the advanced packaging that integrates chiplets,” said Eloy. Jean-Christophe Eloy, CEO, Yole GroupThis sentiment was echoed by Christophe Frey, Vice President of EU Engagement at Arm, who described the industry’s shift from systems-on-chip to systems-of-chips. “Chiplets represents a unique opportunity for Europe to re-enter the game of high-end chips,” said Frey. He emphasized the need for an open chiplet marketplace, an effort Arm supports, but warned, “There is a long road ahead of us,” citing the need for silicon qualification, profiling, test and debug infrastructure, software standards, and specifications for mechanical and thermal integration.Christophe Frey, Vice President of EU Engagement, ArmThat transition is already taking shape in manufacturing. Volker Herbig, Vice President of the Microsystems Business Unit at X-FAB, noted that capabilities developed for CMOS+MEMS sensor in the early 2000s are now enabling heterogeneous integration (HI) at scale. “We are now an open HI foundry,” said Herbig, adding that X-FAB is building a dedicated HI facility with support from the EU Chips Act. “This technology is propagating down from the high-performance computing (HPC) world to medical and industrial applications — It’s happening as we speak.”An Industry Changing Faster Than Ever Volker Herbig captured the industry’s rapid evolution with the “Red Queen” theory from Alice in Wonderland: “You need to run as fast as you can just to stay in the same place.”Volker Herbig, Vice-President, BU MEMS, X-FABClosing the symposium, Leonard Hobbs, Director for Government Affairs at Intel Ireland, cited Charles Darwin: “The species which can best adapt to changes in its environment is the one which survives,” Hobbs added, “Over the past two days we have learned much that can help Europe’s semiconductor industry to adapt successfully to a rapidly changed world.” Leonard Hobbs, Director for Government Affairs, Intel IrelandAt the symposium’s gala dinner, delegates celebrated leaders driving the industry forward. SEMI presented the 2024 SEMI European Award to Kurt Sievers, President and CEO of NXP Semiconductors, and honored Anna-Riikka Vuorikari-Antikainen, Chief Commercial Officer of Okmetic, with the Special Service Award.Kurt Sievers, President and CEO, NXP Semiconductors (Middle)Anna-Riikka Vuorikari-Antikainen, Chief Commercial Officer, OkmeticOn behalf of SEMI, the SEMI Europe team and ISS Europe committee would like to thank all speakers, sponsors, and attendees for making the event a great success.SEMI Contact Cassandra Melvin, Senior Director of Business Development and Operations Email: [email protected]

Speaking to nearly 300 executives gathered at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) 2022 in early April, Inna Skvortsova, Market Analyst on the Market Intelligence Team at SEMI, presented upbeat industry forecasts for 2022 and beyond.

One of the surprising side effects that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the acceleration of the digital transformation of global economies, which has driven a structural shift and propelled the already mature semiconductor industry to record highs.

After logging record shipments in the first quarter of 2021, the silicon wafer industry may need to start greenfield projects as soon as this year to boost capacity over the next two years as market demand and average selling prices continue to improve.

IC design has emerged as the largest semiconductor sector in China, with 2017 revenues of $31.9 billion generated by about 1,380 companies. At the same time, China’s fabless segment has risen to third in global rankings with about one-tenth of worldwide sales.Most of China’s fabless segment produces the logic chips that are key to defense, telecommunications, finance and other industries important to the region’s national security interests and its independence from U.S. and other international suppliers. Investment in fabless logic continues to be the top priority in China’s Phase 2 investment. In mobile, China made meaningful progress through HiSilicon and Spreadtrum, both fabless design houses.In 2017, HiSilicon and UNISOC (formerly Spreadtrum), China’s two largest domestic IC design companies, were ranked in the global top 10 of fabless companies, though most Chinese IC design companies are small, with revenues under $1 million. Working with domestic smartphone makers, both companies have carved out a strong presence in logic and, in particular, the communications and application processors that power data centers and Internet of Things (IoT).Despite their rapid rise, China’s AI accelerators and cryptocurrency ASIC suppliers have yet to appear in China’s top 10. However, we expect their aggressive roadmaps and early adoption of leading-edge process technologies to propel them into the top 10 in the near future. As illustrated in the figure below, an examination of the competitiveness of China’s semiconductor segments reveals that the close proximity of China’s fabless companies to the region’s electronic systems makers plays to their advantage, though access to IP and leading-edge process technologies is a barrier to their growth in the near term. A key barrier to China’s foundries is their limited ability to develop leading-edge process technologies and strategic relationships with top international fabless companies. Most leading international fabless companies rely on customer-owned tooling (COT) and design tools for design. As the approach takes time to develop, it will not support China’s aggressive goal and timeline to independently meet domestic IC demand. Instead, China has been disciplined in executing its strategy to acquire valuable IP and leading-edge technologies by aggressively partnering with international fabless design leaders and pursuing deals with market leaders and laggards. The initial entry point for Chinese fabless companies was the low-margin consumer applications dominated by Chinese suppliers, giving them considerable control over demand. In addition, Chinese companies have aggressively hired top talent from abroad and grown the skills of its engineering workforce to sustain innovation. China will likely free itself from its reliance on non-Chinese developed manufacturing process technology and EDA design tools.China’s semiconductor design growth, concentrated in the Pearl River Delta (see figure below), is fueled by national and local investment programs. SEMI August 2018 The Pearl River Delta, which includes Xiamen, Quanzhou and Shenzhen, is establishing itself as China’s IC design, system and application hub. Domestic and international companies are eligible for investment provided they are established or investing in one of the four regionshat are home to various sectors of the electronics and semiconductor supply chain. Access to large investment funds, coupled with China’s infrastructure build-out, is a strong supporting force to drive the growth of top-tier domestic fabless companies. For its part, the Phase 2 of China’s National Investment Fund targets investments of RMB 150 - 200 billion ($23 billion - $30 billion) in IC design. The growing domestic consumer base and infrastructure investment will drive opportunities for China’s fabless companies over the next decade.To learn more about the latest development on China IC Industry, and get a sample of the China IC Ecosystem Report, visit http://www.semi.org/en/china-ic-ecosystem-report.China IC Ecosystem Report covers the rise of China’s IC industry, national and local government policies, public and private funding, and their implications for China's IC supply chain. The report also compares key domestic companies and their international peers segment by segment.Eugenia Liu is a senior product marketing manager at SEMI. Shanshan Du is chief analyst and program director at SEMI China.

The China IC Ecosystem Report, a comprehensive report for the IC manufacturing supply chain, reveals that front-end fab capacity in China will grow to account for 16 percent of the world's semiconductor fab capacity this year, a share that will increase to 20 percent by the end of 2020. With the rapid growth, China will top the rest of the world in fab investment in 2020 with more than $20 billion in spending, driven by memory and foundry projects funded by both multinational and domestic companies, according to the new report released today by SEMI.The report also shows that IC Design remained the largest semiconductor sector in China for the second year in a row with $31.9 billion in revenue in 2017, widening its lead over the long-dominant IC Packaging and Test sector. The ascent of China’s IC Design sector comes as the region’s equipment market is expected to claim the top spot in 2020 for the first time on the strength of the continuing development of its domestic manufacturing capability. China’s maturing domestic fab sector is also benefiting domestic equipment and materials suppliers. Both groups continue to see gains in their product offerings and capabilities, particularly in silicon wafer production. The China IC Ecosystem Report is produced by SEMI, the global industry association and provider of independent electronics market research.The more than RMB140 billion (US$21.5 billion) accumulated by the National IC Fund, a critical component of the 2014 National Guideline to address China’s semiconductor trade deficit, has spurred rapid gains throughout the region’s IC supply chain. Semiconductors are China’s largest import by revenue. Phase 2 of funding aims to raise another RMB150-200 billion ($23.0-$30.0 billion).Encouraged by the National Guideline and favorable policies, skilled overseas talent is returning to China, triggering an explosion of domestic IC Design start-ups that are benefiting from access to investment and favorable policies, the report shows.Other highlights from The China IC Ecosystem Report include: Currently 25 new fab construction projects are underway or planned in China. 17 - 300 mm fabs are being tracked as part of this investment and expansion activity. Foundry, DRAM and 3D NAND are the leading segments for fab investment and new capacity in China. China’s IC Packaging and Test industry is also moving up the value chain by enhancing its technology offerings through mergers and acquisitions and building advanced capabilities to entice international integrated device manufacturers. China’s IC materials market, currently dominated by Packaging materials, became the second largest regional market for materials in 2016, a position it solidified in 2017. China’s materials market is expected to grow at a 10 percent CAGR from 2015 to 2019, driven primarily by the region’s new fab capacity ramp in the coming years. Fab capacity will expand at a 14 percent CAGR during that period. The China IC Ecosystem Report covers the latest semiconductor supply chain and market developments including the rise of China’s IC industry, national and local government policies, public and private funding, and their implications for China's IC supply chain. The report also compares key domestic companies and their international peers segment by segment. To learn more and get a sample of the report, visit http://www.semi.org/en/china-ic-ecosystem-report.Eugenia is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at SEMI.