Securing the Silicon: A Cross-Mapping Framework of SEMI E187 and EU AI Act Article 15 for High-Risk Industrial Environments

This whitepaper establishes a comprehensive Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) cross-mapping framework between the SEMI E187-0122 cybersecurity standard for semiconductor equipment and Article 15 (Technical Robustness and Cybersecurity) of the European Union AI Act. As artificial intelligence inference engines are rapidly deployed across Operational Technology (OT) layers in semiconductor fabrication facilities (FABs), traditional software-centric regulatory frameworks overlook critical hardware supply-chain vulnerabilities. This paper analyzes how the four core pillars of SEMI E187—Computer OS Support, Network Security, Endpoint Protection, and Security Monitoring—directly operationalize and fulfill the lifecycle cyber resilience mandates of the EU AI Act. Furthermore, it presents strategic policy recommendations advocating for the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) in Bucharest, Romania, to serve as the centralized validation hub for integrated hardware-software compliance within the European microelectronics ecosystem.