Europe used to command 40% of the world’s semiconductor chips as little time ago as the 1990’s. These days it’s just 10%. Just goes to show how much tech manufacturing is taking place in China, the USA, Asia, etc.
The cost of building a large, ultra-modern microchip plant from scratch is, apparently, billions. I read the other day that the EU head was saying it’s just too costly to build them. Looks like we’re going to be relying on Asia for many years to come yet for all our gadgets & gizmo’s!