The European Union wants to be home to 20% of global semiconductor production by 2030, and it’s willing to front the cash to do it, according to a Bloomberg report.

The EU plans to propose legislation laying out “strict conditions” for funding foundry expansions in the region in early February, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in a virtual address at the World Economic Forum.

The announcement comes after months of negotiations between the major foundry operators — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Samsung Electronics, and Intel — and European leaders.

Intel and TSMC first approached European Commissioner Thierry Breton last spring, just as each announced dazzling capex expansions aimed at addressing the global semiconductor shortage, which has crippled automakers and dogged the COVID-addled economy.

Expanding Intel’s footprint in Europe was among Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s first priorities after opening the chipmaker’s foundries to contract manufacturing and announcing a $20 billion expansion in Arizona in March 2021.

In April, Gelsinger turned his attention to Europe where he was reportedly seeking north of $10 billion in subsidies from EU member countries, according to a Politico report. Intel, at the time, denied this figure, stating that “with regards to EU semiconductor incentives, Intel has not requested a specific amount,” but added that the cost of operating a fab in the region is 20-40% higher compared to the U.S. and Asia.

Intel addressed the subject of a European expansion again late last summer when the chipmaker announced it’d dedicated an unspecified amount of capacity at its Kildare, Ireland foundry to support the growing demand for automotive silicon. Intel also shared its ambitions for Europe, which included the construction of two leading-edge foundries and plans to invest north of $95 billion in the region over the next decade.

Intel is expected to announce the next phase of its Integrated Design Manufacturing 2.0 — or IDM 2.0 — initiative at a press conference tomorrow. However, whether a European expansion will be among Gelsinger’s talking points remains to be seen.

Intel is far from the only vendor looking to expand its manufacturing footprint. Early last year, TSMC announced it would invest $100 billion over the next three years to meet surging demand.

During the company’s fourth-quarter of 2021 earnings call last week, CEO C.C. Wei revealed the company would spend between $40 billion and $44 billion of that in 2022 alone, an increase of 50% from the year prior. About 70-80% of those funds will go toward advanced-process technologies, including the foundry operator's upcoming 2-nanometer and 3-nanometer manufacturing processes.

It’s also no secret that TSMC is looking to diversify its manufacturing footprint. The company recently broke ground on a $12 billion facility in Arizona and is reportedly eyeing an expansion in Germany, according to a July 2021 Nikkei Asia report.

Samsung Electronics, a wildcard in the mix, has taken the chip crunch as an opportunity to catch up to rival TSMC. The foundry operator plans to spend $205 billion over the next three years to develop advanced-process technology and expand Samsung’s foundry business to new applications in artificial intelligence (AI), data center, 5G, network virtualization, and open network initiatives. The funding also includes a focus on extreme ultraviolet lithography-based, sub-14-nanometer DRAM and high-density — 200-plus-layer — 3D NAND flash products.

Samsung took its first step toward realizing this goal when it announced a $17 billion chip fab destined for Taylor, Texas in November 2021. The chipmaker is also reportedly considering a European expansion of its own.