* Vandenameele says Chips Act 2.0 should support design,

IP

* Chips Act 2.0 details expected in EU's May 27 tech

package

* CEO says build on leadership of equipment firms like

ASML, ASM, BESI

By Toby Sterling

ANTWERP, Belgium, May 19 (Reuters) - Europe should aim

to create home-grown AI chip design companies, the new head of

Belgian research hub imec said on Tuesday, as Brussels prepares

a package of measures dubbed Chips Act 2.0.

Patrick Vandenameele said Europe's first 43 billion euro

($50 billion) Chips Act, launched in 2023, had helped stabilise

its industry in the face of U.S. and Chinese competition.

But the next round, due to be presented by the European

Commission on May 27, should help build a stronger AI chip

design ecosystem in a market dominated by U.S. companies.

"If we do not get the Nvidias of the future, if we

don't get any of those in Europe, that will be a problem," said

Vandenameele, who took over as CEO of imec, Europe's leading

chip research laboratory, in April.

The Commission is including its updated chip strategy as

part of a larger "tech sovereignty" package. The original Chips

Act failed to achieve goals of attracting advanced manufacturing

and doubling the bloc's global chip market share to 20% by 2030.

Vandenameele said Europe's future does not lie in chip

production, but building on existing strengths in equipment and

design. He cited firms including ASML, ASM, BESI and

EV Group as Europe's strongest assets.

For advanced manufacturing, Vandenameele said the obvious

path would be to encourage Nvidia ( NVDA ) chipmaker TSMC of

Taiwan to expand its existing European manufacturing project,

under construction in Dresden, to a more advanced facility.

($1 = 0.8615 euros)