At SEMICON Europa 2025, the Executive Forum programs brought together experts from across the semiconductor value chain to address two critical challenges shaping the industry’s future in Europe: the transformation of the automotive sector and the pursuit of smarter, more competitive manufacturing.Smart Mobility in a Changing MarketKnut Krümmel, Senior Partner Automotive at Porsche Consulting, set the tone with a stark question, “Are we facing a Detroit scenario in Europe, especially in Germany?” – a reference to the decline since the 1990s of the famous “Motor City.” He pointed out that all three of Germany’s giant OEMs, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, are rapidly losing market share in China in the face of a destructive price war, and have suffered large declines in reported earnings. Krümmel outlined four strategic imperatives for Europe’s auto industry: reduce complexity and increase standardization, become software-defined, design regulation that supports innovation, and build stronger partnerships across the ecosystem. He emphasized, “A new mindset is needed—people need to be hungry to win and prepared to suffer in pursuit of victory.”Knut Krümmel, Senior Partner Automotive, Porsche Consulting GmbHAndreas Aal, Head of Semiconductor Strategy at Volkswagen AG and Chair of Europe at SEMI Smart Mobility Global Automotive Advisory Council (GAAC), introduced a proactive approach to redefine the market. He shared Volkswagen’s vision for mobility-as-a-service, exemplified by its roboshuttle pilot in Hamburg. “It is very difficult for a traditional OEM to go into the full digital services world. But this is what we want to do,” said Aal.Andreas Aal, Semiconductor Strategy Volkswagen AG and Chair of Europe GAAC, VolkswagenJan-Philipp Gerhmann, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for Automotive at NXP Semiconductors, added that the traditional value chain is being upended. The industry is shifting from a hierarchical supply chain to vertical integration, with companies like Tesla designing their own chips. Gehrmann introduced NXP’s CoreRide platform, a modular “skateboard” architecture enabling plug-and-play Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and infotainment features for future vehicles.Jan-Philipp Gehrmann, Vice President of Marketing Strategy, NXPA perspective on the future of semiconductors in autonomous vehicles was provided by Dieter Hoffend, Business Director for Automotive at imec: “For autonomous vehicles, you need a higher-end compute capability, which needs a transition to smaller nodes – and that is very costly. In fact, semiconductor companies will not want to commit volume to automotive customers for their most expensive leading-edge ICs. This means that a chiplet architecture will be the most cost-effective approach for vehicles, and will provide the greatest supply chain resilience. To support this, imec’s vision is of an open chiplet marketplace of heterogeneous chiplets which are interoperable.”Dieter Hoffend, Business Director Automotive Sector, imecAchieving End-to-end Manufacturing ExcellenceThe Executive Forum then shifted to a discussion of smart semiconductor manufacturing. Giovanni Notarnicola, Partner at Porsche Consulting, highlighted the untapped potential of AI in fabs. “AI requires massive amounts of data—but fabs often don’t own or control their data. And second, AI talent doesn’t typically reside in semiconductor companies,” said Notarnicola. His recommendation: “AI is not an IT issue—it’s a cross-functional technology. Isolating AI in the IT department is an old-fashioned view which will deter AI talent from joining the industry.”And Notarnicola encouraged the industry to leverage the new white paper produced by SEMI End-to-End Smart Manufacturing Group, which provides an in-depth report on the application of AI in semiconductor fabrication. Giovanni Notarnicola, Partner, Porsche ConsultingOliver Aubel, Corporate Lead for Automotive Solutions at GlobalFoundries, echoed the opportunity. “We have 1 billion sensors in a fab, but 30% of the signals are statistical noise. AI could help us make better sense of the data.”Oliver Aubel, Corporate Lead for Automotive Solutions at GlobalFoundriesA session on smart manufacturing brought to light other proven methods for improving the performance of fabs. Dr. Holland Smith, Director of Data Science at INFICON, described fab control technology that INFICON had helped STMicroelectronics to deploy. As Thomas Gimmig, Director for Industry 4.0 at STMicroelectronics, said, “Our model was a highway control room – a place where a single person controls 220km of road monitored by 400 cameras, and handles one alert every three minutes on average. This is only possible with a huge amount of automation.”Left: Thomas Gimmig, Director for Industry 4.0 at STMicroelectronics; Right: Dr. Holland Smith, Director of Data Science at INFICONAt STMicroelectronics, the new fab control room mimics this model, automating anomaly detection and problem solving. Smith described how the system will not be limited to detecting and handling anomalies which have already occurred. “There is a plan to look ahead at problems which could emerge in future, and to configure it to make proactive suggestions which will prevent anomalies from occurring in the first place,” said Smith. Jamie Potter, co-founder and CEO of Flexciton, showcased how intelligent scheduling tools based on real-time fab capacity are transforming operations. “In the modern fab decisions must be made more frequently, with more intelligence and with fewer people. And that is why fabs need to be made more autonomous,” said Potter.Jamie Potter, CEO Cofounder, Flexciton Ltd“Our tool is based on a dynamic capacity model of the fab, so WIP optimization is based on knowledge of what the fab can actually do now, rather than – as is normally the case in fabs today – on an abstract algorithm which is derived from operational results observed in the past.” Potter said. Robert Wallace, Solutions Architect at Seagate, which has deployed the Flexciton technology, confirmed the impact: “We increased throughput without increasing cycle times, and saw a 30% drop in deviations from forecast completion times.” Robert Wallace, Solutions Architect at SeagateAntoine Amade, President (EMEA) of Entegris, emphasized the importance of benchmarking to guide performance improvements: “We have a robust library of fab case studies. These benchmarks can become the foundation for best practices.” Antoine Amade, President (EMEA) of EntegrisRegulatory Burdens and Regional Challenges In a panel session, the discussion turned to the issues that European semiconductor manufacturing faces in particular. Herbert Blaschitz, Executive Vice President of Advanced Technology Facilities at Exyte, put a strong emphasis on the drag that European regulation imposes on the construction of new fabrication plants: “There is three times more paperwork to complete in Europe than in Asia.” Blaschitz made the contrast with Taiwan, “where they have standard codes of regulation specifically for a wafer fab. In Europe, we have regulations for skyscrapers, we have regulations for building family homes. But we have nothing for wafer fabs.”It could be worse for companies building all new fabs. According to Stephen Rothrock, President and CEO of ATREG, “We are affected by permits and politics most of all when trying to push through the repurposing of fabs.”From Left to Right: Mark Puttock, Sr. Director - Technology and Innovation, Entegris; Giovanni Notarnicola, Partner, Porsche Consulting; Stephen Rothrock, President/CEO, ATREG; Jean-René Lèquepeys, Deputy Director and Chief Technology Officer, CEA-Leti; Herbert Blaschitz, Executive VP of Advanced Technology Facilities, Exyte; Oliver Aubel, Corporate Lead Automotive Solutions, GlobalFoundriesSustainable Manufacturing Practices: A Source of Competitive Advantage?The forum ended with a debate on the value of and problems with Europe’s commitment to sustainability. As Mark Puttock, Senior Director for Technology and Innovation at Entegris, acknowledged concerns that sustainability practices could raise costs and reduce process efficiency. But Jean-René Lèquepeys, Deputy Director and Chief Technology Officer at CEA-Leti, countered: “sustainability can be a competitive advantage. For instance, the industry is under pressure to eliminate PFAS from its processes. CEA-Leti is working on this problem, and the whole world is looking for a solution.”The event concluded with a moment of celebration: Ilya Zabelinsky, Co-founder of the International Subfab Research Labs (ISRL), won a diamond prize sponsored by Nanores Lab,Left: Jakub GawczyńskiJakub Gawczyński, Head of Nanores Lab; Right: Ilya Zabelinsky, Co-founder of the International Subfab Research Labs (ISRL)On behalf of SEMI, we extend our sincere gratitude to the speakers, sponsors, and participants who contributed their expertise and vision to the programs at SEMICON Europa 2025.SEMI ContactAna Bernardo, Senior Manager of Technology Programs SalesEmail: [email protected]
