Why Europe needs a semiconductor VC
Europe has a choice. The continent that invented much of the technology underpinning the modern world — from ASML's lithography systems to the research institutions pushing the limits of physics — now risks becoming a footnote in the semiconductor era it helped create.
Computing is the bedrock of economic growth. Every major industry — from automotive to healthcare, from energy to defence — runs on semiconductors. The companies that control chip design, manufacturing, and the materials that make them possible will define the next century of economic power.
The numbers tell the story. The global semiconductor market is worth over $600 billion annually and growing. The EU Chips Act has committed €43 billion to strengthen Europe's position. Yet Europe's share of global semiconductor manufacturing has fallen from 24% in 2000 to under 8% today.
The gap is not in talent or technology. Europe is home to world-leading research institutions — IMEC, Fraunhofer, CEA-Leti, VTT — and produces some of the best-trained engineers on the planet. ASML, based in the Netherlands, is the sole supplier of EUV lithography machines that make advanced chips possible. The knowledge is here.
What has been missing is risk capital specifically designed for semiconductor startups. Building a chip company is fundamentally different from building a SaaS company. Development cycles are longer — often 3–5 years to first silicon. Capital requirements are higher. And the go-to-market motion requires deep industry relationships that generalist VCs rarely possess.
This is why we started Cloudberry. We believe the greatest investment opportunity of the next decade is in the foundational technologies that power everything else. Europe has the talent, the research base, and the industrial ecosystem. What it needs is a dedicated investor that understands the sector, the timelines, and the relationships required to turn breakthrough research into global companies.
Semiconductors are everything. Europe can lead again — if we choose to invest.