• The event, part of the municipal strategy for Valencia Innovation Capital, will bring together more than 400 international experts on June 4 and 5 at CaixaForum to discuss the future European Chips Act 2.0

• The 2026 Valencia ChipCity Award is awarded jointly to the University of Valencia and the Polytechnic University of Valencia

The city of Valencia will once again become the epicenter of Europe’s semiconductor industry with the third edition of the Valencia Silicon Forum, taking place on June 4 and 5. The event is organized by the City Council, through its municipal strategy “Valencia Innovation Capital,” and the Valencia Silicon Cluster (VaSiC). The event will bring together more than 400 representatives from companies, institutions, universities, and international organizations linked to the technology and microelectronics ecosystem at CaixaForum, in the City of Arts and Sciences. The City Council’s Councilor for Tourism, Innovation, Technology, Digital Agenda, and Investment Attraction, Paula Llobet, and the president of VaSiC, Mayte Bacete, announced the details of the event on Tuesday.

The Valencia Silicon Forum 2026 comes at a particularly strategic moment for Europe. Just days after the European Commission officially presents the draft of the future European Chips Act 2.0 in Brussels, Valencia will bring together prominent industry leaders to analyze the impact of this new legislation, which is set to define the sector’s legal and financial framework between 2028 and 2034.

In this context, the city has taken on a leading role within the European microelectronics ecosystem. Between September 2025 and March 2026, the Valencian ecosystem led the technical work of the Industry Advisory Group, the expert committee created by European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and composed of the 16 leading microchip companies in the European Union.

During the presentation, Paula Llobet highlighted Valencia’s excellent positioning as an international technology hub and emphasized that the city “is experiencing one of its moments of greatest visibility in the European sphere of innovation and the attraction of technology investments. “This is a rapidly expanding sector that will double its talent needs by 2030.” The councilor also highlighted the development of the multi-year agreement between the City Council and Valencia Silicon Cluster, as well as the institutional collaboration among government agencies, universities, and the private sector to boost the semiconductor ecosystem.

For her part, Mayte Bacete, president of VaSiC, highlighted the consolidation of the València Silicon Forum as one of Europe’s leading events specializing in semiconductor talent, with a growing presence of multinational companies, technology centers, and international organizations. The 2026 edition will place special emphasis on training and recruiting talent, one of the major challenges facing the global technology industry. The forum will feature panel discussions, business meetings, and networking opportunities aimed at strengthening the connection between industry, universities, and specialized professionals.

Additionally, the winners of the 3rd VLC ChipCity Award were announced this Tuesday as part of the event; this year, the award will be presented jointly to the University of Valencia (UV) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) for their contribution to the development of Valencia’s microelectronics ecosystem and technology training. In the two previous editions, this award went to María Marced, former TSMC Europe President, in 2024, and to Ray Stata, founder of Analog Devices, in 2025.

The forum is sponsored by the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) of the Government of Spain, the Valencian Regional Government, the Spanish Semiconductor Competence Centre MicroNanoSpain, and Analog Devices, among others.

This edition will serve to consolidate the city of Valencia’s position as a key player in the European strategy for technological sovereignty, at a time when the semiconductor industry has become one of the most strategic sectors for Europe’s competitiveness, innovation, and industrial autonomy. Thus, the Valencia Silicon Forum reaffirms its ambition to establish itself as a Mediterranean leader in advanced technology and as one of Europe’s main hubs for talent, innovation, and industrial development related to microchips.