EU in talks to join US-led chips, AI and minerals alliance

The European Union is negotiating to join a U.S.-led coalition focused on securing supply chains for advanced semiconductors, AI infrastructure and critical minerals. EU officials are in talks with a group of partners described as a “trusted network” centered on chips, AI hardware and the raw materials used to make them.

Negotiations are ongoing and would add a new channel for coordination alongside existing transatlantic forums. The U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council remains a diplomatic venue where related topics such as export controls, standards and investment screening have been discussed.

The initiative concentrates on three areas: leading-edge semiconductor fabrication, AI infrastructure including GPUs and custom accelerators, and critical minerals and specialty metals used in those technologies. The European Chips Act and the Critical Raw Materials Act are EU measures already aimed at boosting domestic chip production and securing mineral supplies.

Advanced semiconductor fabrication capacity is concentrated in Taiwan and South Korea. Many key minerals and processing capacity for elements such as gallium and germanium are located in China. Beijing has introduced export controls on some materials and has increased investment in domestic semiconductor production, while remaining behind the most advanced foundries at leading process nodes.

If the EU joins the coalition, participating countries could coordinate policies including export controls, investment screening, stockpiling or joint procurement. The coalition would supplement EU actions to expand production, increase recycling of critical materials and diversify sourcing through international partnerships.

The hardware targeted by the coalition is used across several sectors. Large-scale Bitcoin mining uses application-specific integrated circuits that require advanced fabrication. Cloud providers and other services running validator nodes or decentralized storage often rely on GPUs and AI accelerators. Any changes in chip movement, preferential access for alliance members or shifts in mineral processing capacity could affect manufacturing costs and the availability of compute resources used by financial services, cloud computing and crypto networks.

The push to consolidate allied access to chips and critical minerals began under the previous U.S. administration and has continued. The European Chips Act seeks to raise the EU’s share of global semiconductor production and to encourage research and investment in fabrication capacity. The Critical Raw Materials Act identifies strategic minerals, promotes recycling and supports sourcing partnerships to reduce reliance on single-country supply chains.