The chief executive of chipmaker Broadcom has said that the company will invest in a $1 billion European Union-funded programme to develop a semiconductor industry in Spain.

Late on Thursday, Broadcom chief exec Charlie Kawwas tweeted: "Excited to announce our decision to invest in Spain's semiconductor ecosystem under their semiconductor support program [sic].”

Broadcom has not said how much it would invest in the scheme.

The Spanish economy ministry has said that the project could be worth $1 billion and will include the development of "large-scale back-end semiconductors facilities unique in Europe."

The Spanish government previously said that it would allocate as much as €12 billion from the European Union’s pandemic relief funds to subsidise the development of the semiconductor industry.

The EU itself is trying to reduce dependence on US and Asian supplies of semiconductors in light of a global shortage and supply chain bottlenecks. The entire planet is reliant on the small island nation of Taiwan which – along with being the centre of a decades-long push-pull for political sovereignty with mainland China – produces over 60 per cent of the world's semiconductors and over 90 per cent of the most advanced ones.

Cisco has separately announced plans to open a new chip design centre in Barcelona.

Elsewhere, Broadcom is looking to push through its $61 billion takeover of VMware. The deal, which was first announced last year, is reportedly set to gain conditional EU antitrust approval, with reports emerging last month that the European Commission will greenlight the acquisition when it makes its final decision on 17 July.

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