Own Silicon: Germany and Netherlands Launch State Program for AI Chip Development

Europe is making desperate attempts to achieve technological sovereignty. On September 23, 2026, the state innovation agencies NADI (Netherlands) and SPRIND (Germany) launched a joint program with a €40 million budget to design custom AI chips.

The project aims to create a new architecture for algorithm training and inference by using AI models themselves in the development cycle (EDA). Although the initial investment amount seems like a drop in the ocean compared to the CAPEX of American hyperscalers, the macroeconomic essence of the initiative is critically important. Relying on the ASML infrastructure, Europe is trying to cultivate an independent supply chain and rid itself of total technological colonization by the US. The EU’s B2G sector is placing a long-term bet on sovereign silicon so as not to become a hostage to NVIDIA’s pricing policy and Taiwan’s geopolitical risks.

Source: NADI / SPRIND / Reuters