TSMC Charts Three-Pronged Course to Build Europe's Chip Ecosystem

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is going beyond the construction of new fabrication plants in Europe to actively cultivate a local semiconductor ecosystem, with the company's deputy co-chief operating officer detailing a three-part strategy on September 1 to lift European chip startups, universities, and design firms.

Speaking at the 2026 Invest in the EU Forum in Taipei, Cliff Hou — TSMC's senior vice president, deputy co-COO, and chief information security officer — said the chipmaker will not wait passively for European demand to materialize. Instead, TSMC intends to help create that demand by improving the odds that European companies succeed in bringing advanced chips to market.

"We are not just waiting for demand to happen. TSMC will take a more proactive approach to try to create demand, or help demand to be created," Hou said.

The first pillar of TSMC's plan centers on design and technical assistance for European chip startups. Hou said TSMC has established dedicated programs to coach startup teams on selecting the correct process node, packaging approach, and chip architecture before they make their first tape-out — a decision that can determine whether a product succeeds or fails in the market.

As AI and high-performance computing designs grow increasingly complex, the choice between advanced packaging options, memory configurations, and chip-stacking methods can be as consequential as the process node itself. Hou said early missteps in these decisions could cost startups their competitive edge.

"We need to help them choose the right technology, the right solution, to make sure the product is competitive," Hou said. TSMC draws on its own design and manufacturing experience to guide companies through the tradeoffs, while keeping other clients' proprietary information confidential.

The second pillar addresses the financial barriers to first-time chip production. TSMC is offering Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) runs, which allow multiple design projects to share a single wafer and split the costs of masks and process trials. For startups with limited capital, MPW access can mean the difference between validating a chip design and abandoning it for cost reasons.

Beyond MPW, Hou said TSMC will set aside a portion of its capacity specifically for small clients and startups — a deliberate policy to prevent larger customers from crowding out emerging players.

"We will reserve a specific portion for small customers and startups, because we've also found that if all capacity is allocated to the largest customers, no startup can survive," he said. Startups, Hou added, are a critical source of future semiconductor industry growth and must be given the opportunity to complete products and build order books.

The third pillar is talent. TSMC has established a design center in Munich, Germany, to provide chip design and technical support directly to European clients. That center is also serving as a hub for sharing Taiwan-developed semiconductor training materials across the continent.

Hou revealed that TSMC's courseware has been adopted by 80 universities across Europe, with 150 professors involved in the program. The model has TSMC first training the professors themselves, who then return to their institutions to educate students. By the end of this summer, approximately 1,200 students had completed the program, and TSMC intends to continue expanding it.

The ambition stretches beyond Europe. Hou said the talent pipeline initiative started in Taiwan and has since been extended to Europe, Japan, and the United States, with the goal of drawing more students into STEM fields and semiconductor careers.

"Our goal is to grow the talent pipeline so that more people are willing to enter the semiconductor industry," Hou said, adding that lessons from the program are shared with supply chain partners, since a stronger supply chain ultimately strengthens TSMC and the broader industry.

Hou acknowledged that Europe holds deep expertise in radio frequency and analog chips, semiconductor equipment, materials, and precision machinery. He pointed to imec, the Belgian microelectronics research center, and ASML, the Dutch lithography equipment maker, as examples of world-class research and equipment capability that TSMC actively relies on.

However, Hou said the pool of engineers experienced with FinFET, nanosheet transistors, and other advanced process technologies remains limited in Europe compared with other major semiconductor regions. In chip design and system design, he said Europe still has ground to make up, with the United States maintaining a clear lead.

Carlo Reita, chief executive of the Italian chip technology foundation, offered a more nuanced view, noting that around 2,000 design engineers specializing in RF and analog technologies are concentrated in the Pavia area of northern Italy alone. The opportunity, Reita suggested, lies in connecting Europe's existing strengths with the gaps Taiwan's semiconductor ecosystem can fill.

Hou was cautious about pushing European chip startups toward full supply-chain localization too quickly. He argued that demanding domestic sourcing of wafer fabrication, packaging, and other inputs before a startup has proven its product in the market could push costs beyond what young companies can absorb.

"You must first let them succeed, let them survive — then we can discuss resilience and localization. It should be considered in stages, not jumped to the end in one step," Hou said.

TSMC's European strategy is built for the long run: help startups make the right technical choices, clear their path to capacity, build the talent base — and only then expect the demand that can sustain larger-scale local chipmaking investment.

Original Article In Chinese​ （Related： TSMC's AI Victory Is Not Taiwan's Victory. Not Yet. ｜ Latest ）