Spain is part of a historical crossroads that will define its industrial weight in the next few decades. As the second European vehicle manufacturer and with a solid foundation in component design. However, the automotive paradigm is disrupted by a more radical transformation: the car you are in is not a mechanical machine with advanced electronics; e.g high-performance data center on the road (“HPC on wheels“).
In this new scenario, the true darkness does not reside in the body composition until control of semiconductors which act as the brain and nervous system of an autonomous vehicle. If Spain does not act now to consolidate its own “national champions”, we will follow ourselves doomed to a technological dependency that improves one of the pillars of our economy.
Recent cases like tension around Nexperia We show that in the new global economy, a country’s industrial resilience depends on our ability to bring our own technology to the ecosystem.
Crystal technology of Spanish innovation
Historically, Spain has shown an amazing ability to create diverse talent and technology. However, we are victims of a structural phenomenon: our most promising companies to achieve key technological breakthroughs, acaban is sought after by large foreign groups before critical mass increases. We don’t just miss the mark with these winds; we lose decision-making capacity, strategic intellectual property, skilled personnel and the industrial return of years of inversion.
To understand what is our fault, we must look to the lower countries. The result of giants like ASML — today the most valuable technology company in Europe — or NXP was not the fruit of a risk until the vision of Philips as a national champion was born through strong public-private collaboration. Philips didn’t just innovate; She acted as an “ancla” that allowed the creation of an entire ecosystem around her home and kept the technology at home from the presence of American or Asian giants.
Spain now has the opportunity to replicate this successful model. Thanks to the primer IPCEI de Microelectronics and Communications (IPCEI_ME/CT) under the direction of the Ministry of Industry and TourismCompanies such as KD, Semidynamics and Openchip have positioned themselves at the global technology front in areas such as optical communications and RISC-V external architecture.
However, leadership in innovation does not guarantee commercial success. To transform these designs into massive industrial products requires a leap that no single company can make.
IPCEI AST for “National Champion”
If we consider that the appropriate tool is not a traditional subsidy, but rather the cooperation of the public and private sectors, which represents IPCEI (Proyecto Importante de Interés Común Europeo). This mechanism is designed specifically to finance the first industrial deployment and allows companies with proven technology to break the entry barriers in the semiconductor market, which is one of the most demanding in the world.
Proposal for industry paragraph 1 letter new IPCEI AST It’s clear: focus your efforts on the car, because it’s strategic. Spain has a unique opportunity to provide a different approach to autonomous driving based on two main areas: Nervous System (very high-speed intra-vehicle optical communications) and Brain (RISC-V open and scalable architectures as an alternative overlook foreign-owned solutions).
This is not an initiative of three or four companies; It is the pinnacle of a complete industrial ecosystem. Creating national champions will create a arresting effect overflowing masivo sobre el tejido empresarial español both in semiconductor startups and in technology centers and industrial enterprises focused on automotive.
The Spanish automotive industry has formally demonstrated that public support for these projects is essential. We cannot afford the future of our automakers to depend on availability chips designed and driven for miles distances in countries whose interests often do not coincide with ours.
Conclusion: agreement for the future
Strategic autonomy is not a slogan; it is an inversion in the resilience of our country. PUSH apuesta for microelectronics in the automotive industry It is a necessary step to stop being mere consumers of technology and turn into two of our industrial destinies.
have “master“the national semiconductor industry shall guarantee that the intellectual property, highly skilled talent and the return of inversion rule in Spain. This is the moment when the public and private sectors act with the same courage as our global competitors to ensure that the future is planned, designed and manufactured from start to finish on European soil.
***Carlos Pardo He is the CEO of KD and the president of AESEMI.
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