Why Europe is hungry for chips

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC agreed Tuesday on a multibillion-dollar deal to build a plant in Germany, part of a push to put Europe at the centre of the global semiconductor industry. The United States and China are embroiled in a fierce rivalry to dominate the chip industry, and Europe is investing billions to keep up. From design to manufacture and end-use, the semiconductor industry is truly globalised. Almost all of the raw materials needed to make the chips -- silicon, germanium and gallium -- are produced in China. The Semiconductor Industry Association, a US-based trade body, said US firms accounted for 48 percent of the global industry last year.