It's part of the EU's strategy to catch up by investing in future technology instead of building out present capacity.
I think it's a mistaken strategy but it's hard to suggest anything better when you look at the measly amounts they're investing that would get them very little with existing technology. So, they're forced to gamble on vaporwave tech.
Edit: I'm specifically talking about their semiconductor and computing strategy.
True, but what they do is they invest in fundamental research and then expect magic to happen and that research to lead to economic growth. Unfortunately the wizards that cast the spells live in the US, not Europe.