Electronics

On September 15, the European Commission announced a new chip bill aimed at creating the most advanced chip ecosystem including chip manufacturing to ensure the security of EU semiconductor supplies and open up new markets for breakthrough European technologies . This is the EU's 2nm manufacturing process. After the high-profile announcement of the development of advanced and sustainable semiconductors, the relevant legislation was again introduced to support the development of advanced semiconductors. The European Union, which has always been known for its "small and beautiful" countries and industries, is marching toward advanced manufacturing processes with unprecedented urgency.

Sword refers to 2nm advanced manufacturing process

The pursuit of advanced manufacturing processes has been the key word of a series of chip support bills in the European Union in the past year. In December 2020, 17 EU countries signed the "Joint Statement on European Processor and Semiconductor Technology Plans", announcing that they would invest 145 billion euros (approximately RMB 1.2 trillion) in the next two to three years to promote joint research among EU countries And investing in advanced processors and other semiconductor technologies. In March of this year, the European Union officially released the "2030 Digital Compass: The European Way of the Digital Decade", proposing that by 2030, the production value of advanced and sustainable semiconductors in Europe will account for at least 20% of the global production value, an increase of one from 2020. The process is aimed at 2nm, and the energy efficiency is 10 times that of today.

The chip bill announced this time still shows the EU's sense of urgency for the development of advanced semiconductors.

European Commission President Ursula von der Lein said in a policy speech at the European Parliament that the new European chip bill aims to create the most advanced chip ecosystem including chip manufacturing, which will ensure the security of EU semiconductor supply, and Open up new markets for breakthrough European technologies.

According to EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton, the chip bill consists of three parts: The first is to formulate a semiconductor research strategy, combining the work done by IMEC in Belgium, LETI/CEA in France and Fraunhofer in Germany to push the research goals to New level. The second is to improve European chip manufacturing capabilities, ensure the flexibility of design, production, packaging, equipment and other industrial chain links and wafer manufacturers and other suppliers, and support the development of European "giant fabs", so that chip factories can mass produce 2nm and below Process advanced semiconductors and energy-efficient semiconductors. The third is to develop a framework for international cooperation and partnerships to diversify the supply chain to reduce excessive dependence on a single country or region.

"The race for the most advanced chip manufacturing process is a race for technology and industry leadership." Breton emphasized.

Why is the "advanced" gene absent

Europe is one of the regions that developed semiconductors in the early stage. It has formed a dominant territory in the fields of analog IC, power semiconductors, and automotive semiconductors, and is known as "small and beautiful" companies that have monopoly advantages in specific markets such as ASML and ARM.

However, in terms of logic ICs that are highly dependent on process technology, European semiconductors have made little progress. The technical route of an enterprise is often closely related to the local industrial heritage. "From the perspective of the development history of major European semiconductor companies, NXP was spun off from Philips, and Infineon was spun off by Siemens. Therefore, its focused business is in the same line as that of large European electronics manufacturers, almost focusing on automobiles and industries. , Medical and other industries.” Gartner Research Vice President Sheng Linghai told a reporter from China Electronics News.

The demand of the downstream market further defines the development momentum of upstream enterprises. The market demand for advanced semiconductors mainly comes from consumer electronics and advanced computing, while the consumer electronics market in Europe is underdeveloped.

"Of the world's top ten semiconductor companies, 9 are companies that focus on consumer electronics chip design, manufacturing, and IDM, such as Samsung, Intel, TSMC, Hynix, Micron, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, MediaTek, etc., only TI An exception is an IDM company, but its chips are also widely used in automotive, industrial, consumer electronics and other fields. It can be seen that the market scale of consumer electronics is large. The European semiconductor industry can be described as bleak in the field of consumer electronics. The world's 7 largest mobile terminal manufacturers null of them are from Europe, so in the absence of terminal traction, the development of advanced semiconductors in Europe has been slow." Zhang Binlei, a senior analyst at Core Research, pointed out to a reporter from China Electronics News.

In terms of business model, the EU semiconductor companies are dominated by IDM, which also restricts their development in the field of advanced semiconductors. "European semiconductors are basically IDMs. IDM has significant advantages in markets with relatively high barriers to entry such as automobiles. However, foundries have more advantages than IDM in the field of advanced technology where replacement is relatively fast." Sheng Linghai said.

What is the odds?

Despite all the disadvantages, the EU's development of advanced manufacturing is not from scratch. Belgium's IMEC is the world's most advanced semiconductor research and development center, and it maintains cooperative relations with the world's top foundries. At the same time, the EU also has advantages in funding and university resources.

Zhang Binlei said that the EU needs to meet four conditions to develop an advanced semiconductor industry.

One is the large-scale market demand. With a population of approximately 750 million, Europe is the most prosperous regional alliance in the world and should fully exploit the market space.

The second is to cultivate terminal giants in the consumer electronics field. Nokia, the former “Big Mac” in the consumer electronics field, came from Europe. It quickly fell after the rise of 4G. On the one hand, it can be seen that Europe has a good foundation and experience in terminals. On the other hand, it also shows that European companies are upgrading their industries. There is a problem of slow response. Europe can learn from experience and boldly introduce companies and entrepreneurs from outside Europe to cultivate the next "Nokia" and drive the development of the chip industry.

The third is to adhere to the support plan focusing on the design industry. The chip design industry is a core part of the semiconductor industry, and its gross profit is relatively high. European universities have a large number of talents. If they can use the terminal as the traction, they will have a broad space for development.

The fourth is to integrate industrial chain resources and strengthen international cooperation. Only by integrating the resources of the global industrial chain can we maintain competitiveness in terms of iteration speed, product performance, product prices, etc. Otherwise, high costs will also affect the iteration speed and product performance, thus losing competitiveness and the market.

For the most difficult advanced manufacturing processes, especially 2nm chip manufacturing, the EU is actively introducing foundry giants to form assistance. The media quoted a French official as saying that TSMC and Samsung may participate in the EU's plan to develop advanced processes below 10nm. Subsequently, around its 2nm plan, the European Commission held talks with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and TSMC Europe President Maria Merced. It is reported that TSMC is evaluating whether to set up a factory in Germany. Intel plans to set up two chip factories in Europe, and plans to build 8 large wafer factories in Europe in the next ten years, with a total investment of up to 80 billion euros.

"European semiconductors have certain advantages in terms of talents, technology, capital, etc., but Europe has too little accumulation of advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology. It is difficult to break through in an environment where advanced manufacturing processes are highly monopolized. At present, players with processes below 10nm are increasing. The fewer wafer manufacturing companies, only TSMC, Samsung and Intel technology can support. At 5nm, only Samsung and TSMC are two companies. It is very difficult for Europe to develop processes below 2nm, and it needs to rely on Samsung and TSMC to build factories in Europe. "The senior analyst of CCID Consulting's Integrated Circuit Industry Research Center pointed out to reporters.

However, simply introducing foundries cannot solve the fundamental problem. Sheng Linghai pointed out that in order to attract foundry companies, it must have a corresponding customer base. With the gradual rise of new energy vehicles, the traditional automobile industry will be further impacted. If the EU continues to rely on traditional industries, it will limit the development of its advanced semiconductor industry.

It is not difficult to see that the development of advanced semiconductor technology in the EU requires not only the input of various resource elements, but also the cultivation of market demand and the reshaping of its industrial heritage. This is a major change in the EU semiconductor industry. At the same time, it will also promote the EU's digital industry and even the economic structure to "regenerate."