Dutch Economy Minister champions full-grown EU semiconductor industry

Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Dirk Beljaarts is advocating building a full-fledged European semiconductor industry, if only to be able to push back against geopolitical forces that have hit the home base of ASML in recent years. “We want to create a more autonomous value chain. You become stronger as a block and you can avoid being at the mercy of the other two world powers,” Beljaarts told NRC Handelsblad (link in Dutch).

Beljaarts rallied behind Mario Draghi’s analysis that the European Union is still too fragmented. Without addressing the former Italian Prime Minister’s main recommendation of massive investments in the semiconductor industry (mostly) under Brussels’s supervision, the Dutch official said he’s willing to spearhead a new European semiconductor strategy. “I want to be the one to make sure this gets off the ground,” he said.