Cisco detailed plans to establish an engineering design centre at an existing innovation facility in Barcelona, citing benefits for European Union (EU) ambitions to take a leading position in global semiconductor research and production.

The US company noted the centre will be its first of its kind in the EU, with a focus on creating next-generation chips.

Cisco chair and CEO Chuck Robbins (pictured) stated the company’s semiconductor advances help “overcome the performance, economic and power-consumption limitations of current infrastructure”.

The centre is being built under the framework of a Spanish economic transformation project centred on semiconductors and microelectronics.

Cisco noted the move also contributes to an EU plan detailed in February to reduce the bloc’s reliance on overseas chip supplies and strenghten its supply chain.

The European Chips Act aims to double the EU’s share of the global semiconductor market to 20 per cent by 2030.