SEMI, the global industry association for the semiconductor and electronics manufacturing supply chain, announced on 14 September 2026 that it has joined the ReSiLient project consortium. Co-funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101294649), ReSiLient — formally titled 'Innovative Primary Substitution and Secondary Valorisation Routes for Europe's Silicon and Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Raw Material Value Chains' — brings together 18 partners across nine European countries in a 48-month effort with a total budget of €9.57 million.
The project addresses a structural vulnerability in Europe's electronics manufacturing base: the region's heavy reliance on imported silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) raw materials. Both materials are foundational to standard silicon semiconductor devices and, increasingly, to SiC-based power electronics used in electric vehicles, industrial drives, and renewable energy inverters — all segments with strong European manufacturing activity.
SEMI Europe will serve as lead partner for Work Package 8 (WP8), covering Social Acceptance, Dissemination, Communication and Standardisation. This role positions the association as the primary interface between the research consortium and the broader industrial stakeholder community, translating project findings into actionable intelligence for manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and materials producers active in the European market.
ReSiLient has defined four strategic objectives. First, supply chain resilience: mapping critical dependencies across the Si and SiC value chains, validating domestic and secondary feedstocks — including olivine, aplite, and Si-rich industrial waste streams — and aligning new production routes with the Critical Raw Materials Act, European Chips Act, Net-Zero Industry Act, and the EU Emissions Trading System. The remaining objectives, not fully disclosed in the initial press release, are understood to address sustainable processing routes, secondary valorisation of production waste, and standardisation of quality criteria for alternative feedstocks.
'Securing Europe's access to silicon and silicon carbide is no longer simply a materials challenge — it is a strategic industrial imperative,' said Laith Altimime, President of SEMI Europe. 'ReSiLient tackles the critical raw-material bottlenecks at the very foundation of Europe's semiconductor and power-device industries.'
For electronics manufacturing professionals, the ReSiLient project is relevant beyond the wafer fabrication level. Solder materials, die-attach pastes, and substrate laminates all depend indirectly on stable Si and SiC feedstock pricing and availability. Disruptions at the raw-material tier propagate downstream into assembly bill-of-materials costs and component lead times. A more resilient European supply chain for these base materials would therefore benefit SMT assemblers, EMS providers, and semiconductor packaging operations operating under European Chips Act frameworks.
