Page 59 - EE Times Europe September 2021

EE|Times EUROPE 59

Electronics in Europe: Dead, Dying, or Reviving?

Today, this is less obviously the case. First,
much advanced electronics manufacturing
is not highly labor-intensive. Second, many
countries in which it is performed are not
particularly low-cost. This is increasingly the
case in China, where the manufacturing tasks For reader inquiries and address changes,
contracted by fabless or fab-lite companies please contact: christiane.lockner@aspencore.com
or call +49 8092-247740
often require skilled workers. To unsubscribe, please go to:
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FROM A COST TO AN INVESTMENT
MINDSET
The manufacturing mindset has shifted from Aspencore Media GmbH
a question of cost to one of investment. A new Frankfurter Straße 211
63263 Neu-Isenburg
state-of-the-art silicon fab costs up to vidual companies; even the largest would Germany
US$10 billion and requires several years to be daunted by the investment required. The EDITORIAL MANAGEMENT
construct. Our capital-efficiency focus in the industry works best in clusters of comple- Brian Santo, AspenCore Global Managing Editor,
West doesn’t favor such investments. We are mentary and competing companies. So any brian.santo@aspencore.com
keener to find the next Facebook or Arm. Why change has to be led at the national or, Anne-Françoise Pelé, Editor-in-Chief, EE Times Europe,
afpele@aspencore.com
invest in expensive factories when you can more likely, the European level. There is no Echo Zhao, Chief Analyst, echo.zhao@aspencore.com
simply hire people and provide them with shortage of regions in Europe that could use Judith Cheng, Chief Editor, EE Times Asia & EDN Asia,
judith.cheng@aspencore.com
little more than a desk and a PC? a revival of strong manufacturing companies.
GLOBAL ASPENCORE EDITORS
Matthew Burgess, matthew.burgess@aspencore.com
LOST EUROPEAN MANUFACTURING REBUILDING AN ECOSYSTEM Anthea Chuang, anthea.chuang@aspencore.com
CAPABILITY? However, rebuilding an entire ecosystem of Nitin Dahad, nitin.dahad@aspencore.com
Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio,
Europe is very capable. Ironically, we are interlocking supply chains reliant on elec- maurizio.dipaolo@aspencore.com
much better at making the machines to make tronic component manufacturing is the work Yvonne Geng, yvonne.geng@aspencore.com
Amy Guan, amy.guan@aspencore.com
semiconductors than at making the semicon- of decades, not years. It is easy to write it off Susan Hong, susan.hong@aspencore.com
ductors themselves. The largest manufacturer as impossible, requiring too much and coming Illumi Huang, illumi.huang@aspencore.com
of the photolithographic machines essential too late. It is better to start by building on Barbara Jorgensen, barb.jorgensen@aspencore.com
Majeed Ahmad Kamran, majeed.kamran@aspencore.com
to semiconductor manufacturing is existing strengths. So what are these? Clover Lee, clover.lee@aspencore.com
Netherlands-based ASML. Germany is There are several sectors in which Shao Lefeng, lefeng.shao@aspencore.com
Jenny Liao, jenny.liao@aspencore.com
renowned as a home base for manufactur- European foundations remain strong. The Elaine Lin, elaine.lin@aspencore.com
ing companies of diverse sizes that produce automotive industry is one such area. Luffy Liu, luffy.liu@aspencore.com
high-quality products. Increasingly, cars and other vehicles are Challey Peng, challey.peng@aspencore.com
Gina Roos, gina.roos@aspencore.com
So why has Europe so dramatically left the electronic devices with wheels. Fendy Wang, fendy.wang@aspencore.com
scene? It is a combination of simple “fashion” Telecommunications is another traditional Sally Ward-Foxton, sally.wardfoxton@aspencore.com
Demi Xia, demi.xia@aspencore.com
for more glamorous technology sectors, a cap- strength. Ceding critical infrastructure manu- Franklin Zhao, franklin.zhao@aspencore.com
italist model focused on short-term returns facturing to overseas actors is perceived to be Momo Zhong, momo.zhong@aspencore.com
and capital efficiency, individual companies a major political risk, so telecom infrastruc- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
making the decisions that are best for them ture offers an opportunity for rebirth. George Leopold, gleopold@gmail.com
Ann Thryft, athryft@earthlink.net
at the time, and governments that are leery of Green energy is technologically complex John Walko, john.walko@btinternet.com
actively directing the economy. and plays to Europe’s overall strengths in PRODUCTION
But the overall result is alarming. Electron- industrial skills. It is also a global imperative Adeline Cannone, Design Director,
ics is at the core of our everyday activities, be and a potential economic and geopolitical adeline@cannone.com
Jürgen Hübner, Production Coordinator,
it in vehicles, computers, or smartphones. If boon for a region with few natural resources. j.hubner@aspencore.com
the West loses access to semiconductors and It is ultimately a political question. How Lori O’Toole, Chief Copy Editor, lotoole@aspencore.com
Diana Scheben, Senior Copy Editor,
the East to Google and Facebook, which will much are we willing to entrust an industry diana.scheben@aspencore.com
suffer the most? strategic to our entire economy to actors on TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
the other side of the world, where we have Tracey Bayer, tracey.bayer@aspencore.com
EUROPE’S POTENTIAL EXPOSURE TO little influence? What would be the conse- SALES & MARKETING
FUTURE SUPPLY CRISES quences if the current dispute over the status Christiane Lockner, christiane.lockner@aspencore.com
The current supply crisis is largely a of Taiwan were to spin out of control? The Hufmann Agency, victoria@hufmann.info,
norbert@hufmann.info
supply-demand imbalance that will eventually Our electronic component industry Todd Bria, todd.bria@aspencore.com
work itself out. Yet the pandemic has high- has atrophied over the past two decades, Martin Chatterton, Group Publisher, ASPENCORE
lighted that in a real crisis of supply, Europe seemingly with nobody paying attention. Copyright© All rights reserved. No part of this publication
could find itself at the back of the queue for It cannot be rebuilt overnight. Yet while may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
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the economy. The scramble for vaccines has model in prices for many years, recent events up-to-date, accurate information, EE Times Europe will not
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POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Europe does not warrant the accuracy or completeness
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So what to do? It seems clear that such Nick Wood is vice president of sales and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors
trends are unlikely to be reversed by indi- marketing at Insight SiP. and not necessarily the opinions of the publisher.

www.eetimes.eu | SEPTEMBER 2021