Smartphones account for one out of every eight euros of tech trade in the EU  

Logista Freight analyses the main corridors, products and modes of transport of the European tech trade in a report.

Smartphones are the most significant tech product in intra-EU trade, with €42.664 billion traded among the 27 countries of the EU, representing 12.2% of a market that was worth a total of €350.289 billion in 2025. This is data from a report by Logista Freight analysing trade flows in the tech industry, which have more than doubled over the past decade and which already reflect the rise of artificial intelligence.

The report – which you can download from this link – reveals that the Netherlands and Germany form the backbone of the European tech trade, serving as the origin or destination of the ten main corridors. In fact, the largest trade flow is the one between the Netherlands and Germany, amounting to €29.018 billion, followed by the Netherlands to France, at €16.158 billion.

This concentration of traffic in the Netherlands is due to Rotterdam's role as Europe’s premier tech gateway. Many of the containers carrying smartphones, laptops, chips and components arriving to the continent from China, the United States, Vietnam or Taiwan do so through this port, from where lorries take them to the rest of the EU.

The analysis of the most commonly used modes of transport by the industry confirms the dominance of road transport, which accounts for over 90% of logistics flows in the EU-27. The report takes a deep dive into the reasons for this dominance, the specific advantages provided by groupage and full loads, and address the specific challenge that security poses for the tech industry, which accounts for 15% of reported theft incidents in Europe.

Álvaro González-Escalada, General Manager of Logista Freight, believes that “tech is moved quite differently from other industries, which is why logistics plays a strategic role for any company in the industry”. In his opinion, “as production increases in Europe and trade flows grow, transport becomes a cornerstone of competitiveness in an industry characterised by short product life cycles, highly concentrated demand spikes and zero tolerance for delays". Added to this is a growing security challenge. The rise in criminal activity targeting high-value goods forces companies to raise their protection standards, turning security management into a differentiating factor within specialised logistics.

The report provides a comprehensive overview of how tech moves across the EU-27: which products account for the bulk of trade, which corridors are used for their distribution, how they're transported and what specific risks their logistics poses. This information provides all industry stakeholders – from manufacturers to distributors, e-commerce operators and systems integrators – with an accurate picture of the logistics and commercial structure of the European tech market.