Europe should invest in chip design, not a mega-fab - think tank

FILE PHOTO: Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager and European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton give a news conference on 2030 Digital Compass following weekly meeting of EU Commission in Brussels, Belgium March 9, 2021. Olivier Hoslet/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Europe's ambition to make the most powerful computer chips risks wasting billions of euros, a German think tank said in a report on Thursday, urging policy makers to focus instead on rebuilding the region's chip design industry.

The EU executive's new goal of doubling its global semiconductor share by 2030 is doomed to fail because the bloc lacks a meaningful market that any super-advanced chip foundry could sell into, author Jan-Peter Kleinhans said.