By 2030, the worldwide semiconductors (SC) industry manufacturing capacity should nearly double as of today. The European Commission proposes as EU´s digital ambitions, between others, that the European chip production should reach 20% of the world chip manufacturing capacity. Since the current EU chip production only represents 6 to 8% of the worldwide capacity, this means that the European semiconductor industry should increase its capacity by a factor 4 to 5.

Since the production of semiconductors leads to large amounts of power and water consumption, and to greenhouse gases (GHG) emission, the environmental impact of the EU semiconductor industry will also increase by a factor 4 to 5 in 2030 compared to the current metrics. The manufacturing phase is responsible for the largest share of carbon footprint and environmental impact within the life cycle of most electronic products. Hence, it is compulsory to provide incentives for developing the means toward a better use of the resources during the Electronics components and systems (ECS) manufacturing and the reduction of the future ecological footprint of the EU chipmakers to cope with the Green Deal objectives.

Moreover, a 2023 EU Commission report1 considers elements such as Ga, Ta, W, Li, Hf, In, Ge, Si and some rare earths as critical raw materials for digital technologies. The access of European stakeholders to these materials will be extremely competitive and it can harm the European technological sovereignty. To avoid wasting scarce mineral resources, it becomes urgent to look for processes that are more eco-friendly in the use of these materials, and still remining economical.

The methods, processes and schemes for the production, assembly and testing of the various components and their integration into modules and systems need to be developed with appropriate quality, reliability as well as scalability and sustainability (circular economy, CO2 footprint and efficient use of resources). Focus should be on the sustainability of the ECS production, including processes, materials and maintenance. The recyclability in the production phase must be considered to enable, in addition to the reduction of the usage of rare and toxic materials, the recovery of components and materials used in the ECS manufacturing.