TSMC president hits out at European red tape
"Europeans tend to be risk averse. If you set up a business in Europe and fail, you are tainted for life. In the US, they see this as a good thing because you have experienced the bad times." he said.
Despite such problems, den Otter said that the fabless sector in Europe had great potential. Although (with the exception of ARM Holdings) Europe does not have any fabless companies in the same league as Broadcom or Nvidia, it does have some fabless successes, notably in companies such as Micronas, CSR, DSP and Dialog.
"Contrary to what a lot of people believe, the fabless sector in Europe is strong and is growing. But it doesn’t get much attention. Fabless companies in Europe deserve to get more attention."
In his speech, den Otter also admitted that TSMC has made mistakes with its European strategy in the past. Despite being the world’s largest foundry by some way, the company is only in second place in terms of market share in Europe. "We have now rectified those mistakes," he said.
