It is not the big chip fabs Brussels has ruled on this time, but four specialists. The European Commission has permitted Germany to subsidise plants belonging to Element 3-5, Vishay Siliconix, KLA-Tencor and KETEK to a combined total of 659 million euros. The federal government and the respective state authorities share the financing.
The largest item, 353 million euros, goes to Baesweiler in North Rhine-Westphalia. There Element 3-5 intends to produce silicon carbide epiwafers — the Commission speaks of a "globally unique factory." Such wafers are the basis for particularly high-performance chips and sensors, of the kind installed by the automotive industry among others. Some 214 million euros flow to Itzehoe in Schleswig-Holstein, where Vishay manufactures n-type and p-type silicon power switches (power MOSFETs), likewise primarily for vehicles.
The two smaller projects target metrology and specialist sensor technology. KLA-Tencor receives 74.4 million euros for a plant in Weilburg, Hesse, building optical overlay and film measurement instruments — tools of process control and quality assurance, without which semiconductors cannot be made in volume. KETEK gets 17.9 million euros for a facility in Munich, where silicon drift detectors and so-called graphene radiation entry windows are to be produced: highly specialised chips for industrial sorting and recycling systems.
A tenth of world production — the target is 20 percent
Why this points beyond four sites: the EU currently manufactures roughly ten percent of the world's semiconductors and wants to double that share to 20 percent by 2030. The Chips Act, adopted by the Council and Parliament in 2023, created the basis for this; member states have already channelled around 14 billion euros into such projects according to the Commission, including an approval in early 2025 of 227 million euros for an Austrian plant producing optical sensors, LEDs, lasers and integrated circuits.
There is a reason the clearance is needed at all: the EU applies strict rules to state cash injections, so that financially strong countries cannot hand their companies a disproportionate advantage and push competitors out of the market. In return, the subsidised firms have committed to ensuring positive effects on the European semiconductor value chain and to cooperating with universities and research institutions.
"By supporting innovation in the semiconductor field we strengthen our technological sovereignty and Europe's competitiveness," said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the Commission.