EU wants to lure TSMC and Samsung with subsidies

Over the past couple of years, there's been a major push in the US to bring critical production. A lot of tech production happens in China and Taiwan, which has certain geopolitical implications. With both TSMC and Samsung constructing new plants in the US, it seems America's importance in chip manufacturing will grow.

Despite being the world's largest trading bloc, the European Union is home to a surprisingly small tech industry. The Netherlands is the home of ASML, the manufacturer of key lithography tools that are used by world's leading chip makers, but other than this there are no major tech or Internet giants in the EU.

Bloomberg reports the EU wants to curtail its reliance on Taiwan by growing its domestic chip production. According to the news agency, the EU may be in talks with TSMC and Samsung to set up a foundry in Europe. Earlier news reports indicated the EU wants domestic chip production with the ability to make chips smaller than 10nm, and eventually down to 2nm.

European attempts to ramp up production -- led in part by European Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton -- could involve re-developing an existing foundry or building a new one, the people said, who added no final decision has been taken and the time frame of the project is still to be determined.

A European Commission spokesperson did not respond to requests to comment. Samsung didn’t immediately respond to an email for comments.

“When it comes to fab location selection, we need to consider many factors including customers’ need. TSMC does not rule out any possibility, but there is no concrete plan at this time,” spokeswoman Nina Kao said in an email when asked about cooperating with Europe.