According to the latest Eurostat figures, the European Union is making gains in the current global high-tech boom, with its high-tech trade surplus increasing to €32.4 billion in 2025.
EU imports of high-tech products reached €534.1 billion, while exports rose to a record €566.5 billion, giving the bloc its second consecutive annual high-tech trade surplus after four consecutive years of deficits between 2020 and 2023. High-tech products accounted for 21.4% of the EU’s extra-EU exports in 2025.
The EU’s high-tech exports are dominated by pharmaceuticals, which accounted for €207 billion, or around 36.5%, of total high-tech exports in 2025. Aerospace products accounted for around 17%, while electronics and telecommunications and scientific instruments were also among the largest categories. Eurostat classifies high-tech products across nine groups, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, electronics and telecommunications, scientific instruments, computers and office machinery and machinery.
ASML, the Dutch semiconductor-equipment manufacturer, is one of Europe’s most strategically important high-tech companies. Its €32.7 billion in net sales in 2025 would be equivalent to around 5.8% of the EU’s €566.5 billion in high-tech exports, although the figure also includes services.
The major foreign market for European high-tech products is the United States, which accounted for 34.4% of EU high-tech exports, worth €195.1 billion. The United Kingdom followed with 9.3%, while China accounted for 8.5%, worth €48.1 billion.
The United States is particularly important for European pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical products represented 62% of the EU’s high-tech exports to the United States, while aerospace products accounted for 12%. Exports to China were more diversified, with electronics and telecommunications accounting for 30%, aerospace 27% and scientific instruments 20%.
Despite the growth in European high-tech exports, concerns have recently emerged over Europe’s position in the semiconductor industry. ASML executive vice-president for public affairs Frank Heemskerk said in September that the company was selling “absolutely nothing” in Europe in 2026, attributing this to a lack of investment and the absence of sufficient new chip-fabrication capacity on the continent. Europe accounted for around 1% of ASML’s revenue in 2025 and 5% in 2024, while its share fell to 0% in the first two quarters of 2026.
ASML is the world’s only supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, the machines used to manufacture some of the most advanced semiconductors. The company therefore occupies a unique position in the global semiconductor supply chain, despite the fact that much of the manufacturing demand for its most advanced equipment is concentrated outside Europe.
Other notable European high-tech companies include Airbus, a major global aerospace manufacturer, and Siemens, which operates across industrial automation, electrification and digital technologies.
The latest figures nevertheless show that Europe has strengthened its position in high-tech trade. High-tech production within the EU also increased substantially, reaching €532 billion in 2025, up from €287 billion in 2015. Pharmaceutical production alone reached €167 billion in 2025.
At the same time, the figures expose a strategic weakness. The EU remains heavily dependent on foreign suppliers for some of the technologies driving the global boom. China supplied 28% of EU high-tech imports, compared with 25% from the United States, while the EU recorded a €102 billion high-tech trade deficit with China in 2025, largely because of deficits in computers, office machines and electronics and telecommunications.
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