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The call by SEMI to save the semiconductor industry in Europe would seem to be a last-ditch effort as both the semiconductor downturn and the global economic woes get deeper. European chip manufacturing, though, has been in decline for many years, but it had been a slow decline up until now. Regardless of which market research firm’s data you use, 2009 and 2010 will be very poor years for the industry in Europe and the rest of the world.

Saving the claimed 500,000 jobs is a noble cause but the EU has never embraced the semiconductor industry in the way it has the automotive and aerospace industries. This is partly due to the fact that from a jobs number perspective the semiconductor industry is small. It has received its fair share of R&D funding from the EU over the years and local incentives to build fabs etc… has been on the whole very good.

Quite a few years ago, I attended an R&D forum in Europe where semiconductor manufacturing executives told the trade press that the EU needed to do a lot more to help keep the industry in Europe.

The point I raised to the panel of executives was that further support was unlikely when the very same industry leaders had been closing fabs in Europe and opening fabs in Asia. With extra EU funding, would that situation actually change?

The EU will and has in the past attempted to save jobs in sectors that it perceives are necessary for Europe’s competitiveness. In many cases, that has been dictated by the number of jobs at risk. In other cases it is due to overseas competition that is occurring due to foreign government support, distorting a level playing field.

But with European chip manufacturers moving more of their operations abroad and shedding jobs in their thousands at a time, the EU will look upon the SEMI crusade as an irritant rather than something fundamental to the wellbeing of the EU.

Put another way, the European semiconductor industry has been shooting itself in the foot for years; it now really hurts and requires medical attention. The problem is that the doctor is unlikely to grant an appointment, let alone give out medication.