In the context of the continuous deepening of global digital transformation, semiconductors have become the core cornerstone to support technological innovation and industrial upgrading. On June 15, 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron put forward an ambitious plan at the VivaTech conference in Paris: France must have the ability to produce the world's most advanced 2 to 10 nanometer chips to achieve technological sovereignty and strengthen Europe's strategic position in the global technology supply chain. The proposal of this goal is not only a repositioning of France's national competitiveness, but also a key turning point for Europe to seek a breakthrough in the global semiconductor landscape.
Ⅰ. The foundation and current situation of the French semiconductor industry
Although France has not yet formed a global leader in advanced processes, its semiconductor industry foundation is not weak. In specific process nodes and vertical application fields, France has built certain technical barriers and industrial clusters.
The "Silicon Valley" region, with Grenoble at its core, is home to key institutions such as CEA-Leti, STMicroelectronics, and Soitec. Among them, CEA-Leti has long focused on the research and development of new process platforms, and its FD-SOI technology (fully depleted silicon-on-insulator) has been successfully commercialized, and has been used by GlobalFoundries and ST in the 18nm process of low-power chips, providing key support for automotive electronics, Internet of Things and other markets.
At the policy level, the "France 2030" strategy launched by the French government lists semiconductors as one of the seven disruptive innovation areas. A total of €5.5 billion will be earmarked for semiconductor projects, of which €2.9 billion has been used to support ST's partnership with GF to build a fab in Crolles, with a total investment of €7.5 billion and an expected annual production capacity of 620,000 18nm wafers in 2028 for key sectors such as automotive, industrial, and telecommunications.
However, France is still in a blank state in the field of advanced processes (7nm and below), and Europe accounts for less than 2% of the world's overall advanced process capacity, far behind Asia.
Figure: The battle for 2nm: Can France overtake in the global semiconductor race? TSMC Samsung is the key
Ⅱ. TSMC and Samsung: the "moat" of advanced processes
TSMC and Samsung Electronics are currently the only wafer foundries in the world with a 2nm process mass production plan, and they have the "lifeline" of advanced processes.
TSMC has achieved mass production on the 3nm (N3E) node and plans to mass-produce the 2nm (N2) process in the second half of 2025. For the first time, the N2 process will use a fully surround gate (GAA) nanosheet transistor architecture, which can achieve a 10%-15% performance improvement at the same power consumption or a 25%-30% reduction in power consumption compared to N3E. Subsequent N2P and A16 nodes will introduce back-side power delivery (BSPDN) technology to provide higher transistor density and better thermal management performance for high-performance computing (HPC).
Samsung is also pushing for the GAA architecture. Although its 3nm process yield is still lower than TSMC's, its 2nm development has achieved phased results. According to the first quarter of 2025 financial report, Samsung's 2nm chip yield has increased from about 30% at the beginning of the year to nearly 50%, and it is expected to start small-scale mass production in the second half of the year to lock in more AI and mobile computing customers.
The continuous technology iteration of TSMC and Samsung not only builds technical barriers, but also poses higher challenges to the "independent core manufacturing" plans of countries around the world.
Ⅲ. Opportunities and challenges for France to attract TSMC and Samsung to set up factories
In order to reduce dependence on Asian supply chains, TSMC and Samsung have actively promoted globalization in recent years. The former has set up or plans to set up factories in Arizona, Kumamoto, Japan, and Dresden, Germany, while the latter is expanding its wafer fab in Austin, Texas, USA. For France, this presents an opportunity to bring in top OEMs, but it also faces four key challenges:
1. Subsidy policy and cost structure
State-of-the-art fabs invest billions of euros at every turn. For example, Intel's Magdeburg project in Germany has an initial investment of about 30 billion euros, and the German government provides subsidies of up to 9.8 billion euros. If France wants to attract TSMC or Samsung, it must develop competitive financial incentives and optimize supporting conditions such as electricity, taxation and land use to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of enterprises.
2. The ecology of advanced process technology is weak
At present, France lacks the accumulation of underlying technology in key advanced process nodes such as GAA, and the equipment, materials, EDA tools and other links are relatively blank, and the overall industrial chain is not perfect. France needs to increase investment in core R&D institutions such as CEA-Leti and Soitec, build a domestic equipment and material system for advanced processes, and form a closed-loop innovation ecosystem.
3. The market demand has not yet been formed
Compared with the United States and Asia, the market demand for high-performance chips in France is limited, mainly in the automotive, industrial and IoT fields. The core scenarios that drive the development of advanced processes, such as AI and HPC, have not yet been applied on a large scale. The government needs to create application scenarios through public procurement, support for local AI companies, and the construction of data centers to promote the resonance of supply and demand.
4. There is a shortage of highly skilled talent
According to the data released by the French National Association of Engineers (IESF), there is a shortage of more than 2,000 engineering and technical talents in France every year, and talents in key positions such as senior process engineers and equipment engineers are scarce. The introduction of advanced process enterprises will further exacerbate the pressure on talents. France should strengthen its STEM education system, introduce international talents, and accelerate the construction of local talent training mechanisms.
Ⅳ．The potential impact of the French plan on the European and global industrial landscape
If France successfully introduces TSMC or Samsung to set up factories and gradually forms 2nm-10nm process capabilities, its strategic significance will far outweigh the economic benefits. First of all, it will break the current "hollowing" status quo of Europe in terms of advanced manufacturing processes, and enhance its strategic weight in the global semiconductor supply chain.
Secondly, the rise of France is expected to drive the upgrading of the entire European semiconductor ecosystem, attracting equipment, materials, packaging, EDA and other related enterprises to gather and form a complete ecology from design to manufacturing. It also plays an important role in promoting the goal of 20% of global production capacity by 2030 proposed by the European Chips Act as a whole.
More importantly, this will change the current global industrial pattern of "the United States and Asia dominated, Europe supplemented", and enhance the EU's strategic autonomy in science and technology, especially in the context of frequent geopolitical conflicts and rising supply chain security risks.
Conclusion: Can Paris be the "next stop in Kumamoto"?
France's attempt to "overtake in corners" in the global semiconductor map is unprecedented, but the key to success or failure still depends on whether it can introduce players who really master the 2nm process - TSMC or Samsung, and whether it can solve practical problems such as technology ecology, capital costs, and talent supply.
The case of TSMC in Germany shows that Europe is not unattractive, but must meet the global rules of "capacity for market, subsidy for technology". Whether France can stand out in the international game of advanced manufacturing processes is not only related to the fate of its own industry, but also will profoundly affect the future path of the entire European science and technology strategy.
This "chip war" has just begun.
