About TrendForce News

TrendForce News operates independently from our research team, curating key semiconductor and tech updates to support timely, informed decisions.

[News] EU Auditors Warn of High Risk: China Supplies One-Third of EU Legacy Chip Imports


2025-05-01 Semiconductors editor

Please note that this article cites information from  Commercial TimesPOLITICO, the European Court of Auditors (ECA), Liberty Times, and The Register.

In recent years, the U.S. has imposed export controls to block China’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies, prompting China to shift its focus to the legacy chip market. According to a report from Commercial Times, citing POLITICO, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) noted that China has become the EU’s largest source of legacy chip imports, with the EU’s dependence now reaching a “high-risk” level.

On April 28, the ECA published a report on its website titled “Microchips: EU off the pace in a global race.” The ECA warned that although the EU has set a goal of capturing 20% of the global chip market by 2030, it remains far from reaching that target.

The report notes that while Europe has competitive players in the legacy chip sector—such as Germany’s Infineon, the Netherlands’ NXP, and Franco-Italian STMicroelectronics, which mainly serve the automotive industry—it still cannot keep up with the EU’s growing demand. Therefore, about one-third of the EU’s legacy chips are sourced from China, as the report highlights.

The European Commission’s own forecast, published in July 2024, projects that even with a significant increase in manufacturing capacity, the EU’s share of the global chip market will rise only slightly—from 9.8% in 2022 to just 11.7% by 2030, as noted by the report.

The ECA’s 2024 findings note that the EU ran EUR 9.8 billion semiconductor trade deficit with China—a gap likely to widen as demand for legacy chips, crucial to green and energy-efficient tech, continues to grow.

Funding Gaps Undermine EU’s Chips Act Ambitions

Meanwhile, according to Liberty Times, citing The Register, the European Chips Act—launched by the European Commission in 2022—is unlikely to help the EU reach its goal of capturing 20% of the global semiconductor market by 2030. The report points to issues such as slow progress and insufficient funding.

As the ECA highlights, the European Commission is contributing only 5% (EUR 4.5 billion) of the EUR 86 billion in the planned European Chips Act funding through 2030, with the rest expected to come from member states and industry.

To put that into perspective, major global chipmakers invested EUR 405 billion between 2020 and 2023 alone—an amount that, as the ECA notes, far exceeds the funding available under the European Chips Act.

Read more

(Photo credit: SMIC)


Get in touch with us