Flemish economic mission to US to focus on semiconductors

Flemish minister president Jan Jambon will leave for the US on Monday, with 16 business leaders and several academics, on an economic mission that aims to boost cooperation with the US and attract investment capital.

Jambon will be accompanied by a delegation from the Netherlands, including outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte. The trip will focus on semiconductors, an industry in which both Flanders and the Netherlands are world leaders.

Jambon and Rutte will visit technology companies in Phoenix and San Francisco, including Waymo, which provides software for self-driving cars, Microsoft, and hardware manufacturers Nvidia and AMD. They will also visit several top US universities, including Stanford and Arizona State University.

Imec in the spotlight

The Flemish research centre imec, a world leader in chip technology, is a focus of the visit. Jambon will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana, where imec cooperates with Purdue University, which CEO Luc Van den hove described as "a world-class research university". The Flemish delegation will also travel to Detroit, Michigan, another US city where imec is active.

Other highlights include a cooperation agreement with Indiana, the first between Flanders and a US state, and a visit to Glendale, Arizona, where Belgian pilots are being trained to fly the new F-35. Jambon will not be able to meet the pilots due to a refusal by the Belgian embassy.

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