The European industrial sector is grappling with an unprecedented wave of challenges, ranging from mass layoffs in Germany and aggressive expansion of Chinese goods to a global shortage of electronic components. The rate of factory closures on the Old Continent has increased sixfold, and the technology industry is losing access to crucial memory and storage drives, which are being entirely absorbed by the artificial intelligence sector. The Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry warns that without intervention from the European Commission, deindustrialization will become an irreversible process.

Collapse in German Industry

In Germany, industrial employment fell by 124,000 people in 2025, which most affected the automotive sector and machinery manufacturing.

AI Devours the Component Market

Technology giants have reserved the production capacity of Micron and Western Digital until 2026, drastically raising prices of RAM and SSD for consumers.

Chinese Price Pressure

Chinese exports are flooding Europe, offering products at prices several dozen percent lower, threatening the survival of EU textile and chemical producers.

Airbus and Aviation Problems

Airbus lowered production forecasts for the A320neo model to 2027 due to chronic delays in Pratt & Whitney engine deliveries.

The condition of the European economy is deteriorating at an alarming rate, as confirmed by the latest data from key sectors. In Germany, previously the continent's driving force, employment fell by 124,000 people by the end of 2025, representing a reduction of 2.3% year-on-year. The automotive sector was hit hardest, with 46,000 specialists losing their jobs. Simultaneously, the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry points out that since 2022, the pace of industrial plant closures in Europe has increased sixfold. The situation is worsened by the fact that the European Commission has so far implemented only 17% of the demands contained in the Antwerp Declaration, which was meant to protect the competitiveness of EU producers against cheap imports from Asia. The Antwerp Declaration of February 2024 was a desperate appeal by 73 industry leaders to create a Clean Industrial Deal to prevent the flight of capital and production outside the European Union in the face of high energy costs.At the same time, a crisis continues in the technology market, driven by insatiable demand for infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Giants like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are buying up the entire available production of RAM memory, SSD drives, and HBM4 chips. Micron Technology has already announced that its production capacity for 2026 is completely sold out. The effects of this phenomenon directly impact consumers and smaller producers. Valve has halted sales of the Steam Deck console due to component shortages, and graphics card prices in Poland are reaching record levels. Even Apple, fearing for its margins, is considering using cheaper memory from China, which is on the Pentagon's blacklist. Employment Reduction in German Industry 2025: Automotive sector: 46000, Metal production: 18000, Machinery manufacturing: 13000, Other industries: 47000 In Poland, negative trends are visible in the results of the company Stalprodukt, which recorded a net loss of PLN 17.21 million in Q4 2025. The lack of systemic solutions regarding energy prices makes Polish steel mills and chemical plants uncompetitive against the flood of goods from the Middle Kingdom. The trade deficit with China is deepening, as Chinese exporters, pushed out of the American market by tariffs, are redirecting the stream of cheap goods to Europe. Economists from Credit Agricole warn that in some sectors, such as textiles or pharmaceuticals, import prices have fallen by several dozen percent, which for local companies may mean having to declare bankruptcy. „The European Commission has still not implemented 83 percent of the assumptions of the Antwerp Declaration, which puts our industry in an extremely difficult position.” — Tomasz Zieliński6-fold — increase in the pace of factory closures in Europe Supply Crisis in the Technology Industry: Availability of Western Digital drives: Available immediately → Sold out until the end of 2026; RAM memory prices: Standard level → Increase of up to 5-fold; Steam Deck availability: Full availability → Sales halted

Mentioned People

  • Tomasz Zieliński — President of the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry (PIPC), warning about the pace of Europe's deindustrialization.
  • Bill McDermott — CEO of ServiceNow, who announced the purchase of his own company's shares for 3 million dollars.
  • Irving Tan — President of Western Digital, informing about the complete sell-out of hard drive stocks.
  • Mario Draghi — Author of a report on EU competitiveness, warning about severe competition from China.