A single speck of dust can kill a test chip. At the sparkling modern headquarters of the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec), located on the outskirts of the Belgian university town Leuven, imec gathers leading semiconductor companies from around the world to collaborate on precompetitive R&D on advanced semiconductor technologies.
After its success climbing the pinnacle of semiconductor innovation, imec finds itself as a poster boy for globalization as the world retreats behind protectionist walls. Under pressure from both Brussels and Washington, it has broken ties with China. Europe might end up using it as a weapon against US tariffs.
“This industry has perfected globalization, and in today’s geopolitics, we need to stress how global collaboration in our industry is crucial to drive innovation,” acknowledges Jo De Boeck, imec’s Executive Vice President.
Founded in 1984, imec houses research on lithography flows and exotic materials. By 2030, chipmakers aim to cram a trillion transistors into one sealed unit that snaps straight onto a circuit board. This goal requires amongst others, leaps in 3-D stacking, photonics, and new materials — imec’s R&D specialties.
American chipmakers such as Intel and Nvidia partner in imec’s R&D programs and industrial partnerships, provide 75% of imec’s budget. Along with Dutch ASML’s lithography monopoly, imec’s R&D facilities represent a European choke point in the semiconductor industry. Imec brings together the global value chain for joint R&D and next-generation chip testing, and ASML’s lithography machines are crucial to produce large volumes of the tiniest, most advanced chips.
Imec is already squeezing China. A decade ago, the residence permit of a Chinese researcher at imec was withdrawn because of the Belgian authorities’ suspicion of spying. Today, imec only collaborates with Chinese organizations on “non-critical” technologies and is “winding them down at a very high speed,” says CEO Luc Van den Hove.
For now, imec is concentrating on building Europe’s chip infrastructure. Under the 2021 Chips Act, the European Union aims to ensure a secure supply of chips and gain a better level of self-sufficiency. In May 2024, imec secured a €2.5 billion public-private package, backed by the EU Chips Act and the Flemish government, to add a third next-generation clean room and NanoIC pilot line — one of Belgium’s largest investments in years. EU Chips Act money is also underwriting imec’s “beyond-2 nm” pilot line, at the very frontier of semiconductor design. Imec filed 203 European applications in 2024, making it Belgium’s top applicant.
The EU Chips Act aims to increase Europe’s semiconductor market share from 10% to 20% by 2030, and European governments led by Germany have lavished subsidies on full-scale fabs — Intel in Magdeburg, Taiwan’s market leader TSMC in Dresden, and Wolfspeed in Saarland. But except for TSMC, other projects have drifted. Intel paused construction for two years amid budget fights, and Wolfspeed slid to mid-2025 at the earliest.
In contrast, imec is expanding. Belgium and Spain announced plans last October to build an imec lab in Malaga, scheduled to open in 2029. The facility aims to support talent in southern Europe and answers the European Commission’s pleas to build “deep-tech valleys” beyond the EU’s Franco-German core.
Chip sovereignty, so frequently discussed in European capitals, does not mean recreating Taiwan in a European valley; it means hard-wiring resilience into a global system that is likely to remain global, like it or not. Europe already owns the lithography crown, and thanks to imec, the world’s most advanced R&D sandbox. Protecting and scaling those assets is quicker, cheaper, and more realistic than chasing 20% of worldwide manufacturing. As imec VP De Boeck puts it, “The essence is to collaborate, connect the strengths, and keep them at home.”
Brussels, take note. It should invest more in the research and design of next-generation chips than in their production. Imec represents a powerful weapon to defend its interests, both to beat off China’s semiconductor ambitions and to defend Europe against the Trump administration.
Dr. Anda Bologa is a Senior Researcher with the Tech Policy Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
Bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic cooperation on tech policy. All opinions expressed on Bandwidth are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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