European chip giants warn about costly effects of production regionalization
Three top European semiconductor leaders point out problems with separate chip production chains across regions. Growing nationalism in tech manufacturing could lead to higher costs for everyday devices
In Munich this monday‚ three big-name European chip makers met up after Donald Trumpʼs second-term win to talk about whats bothering their business. The meet-up brought together Jochen Hanebeck from Infineon Jean-Marc Chery of STMicroelectronics and Kurt Sievers representing NXP
The chip-making bosses pointed out a growing headache: different regions wanting their own production lines (which makes everything super-costly). Over the last 10 years or so governments keep pushing for local chip making; its becoming a real pain for these companies
The danger is that we will accelerate in this fragmentation
These companies are doing pretty good in China right now — thanks to all those electric cars being made there; but elsewhere things arent so hot except for AI-related stuff. Making separate supply chains for different regions isnt cheap: you need different materials engineers and whole new setups
Sievers made a straight-forward point: no single place can run the whole chip show by itself — and even if they could nobody would want to buy such expensive gadgets. The companies hope that governments will get it: splitting up production just makes everything cost more. These Euro-based firms make chips for cars power controls and factory stuff; they know what theyre talking about
