The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it would launch an European Chip Act ((European Chips Act),) to establish an "ecosystem" of advanced chip manufacturing in an effort to maintain the EU's competitiveness and self-sufficiency. The shortage of semiconductors, which has long plagued the world, highlights the danger of the EU's high reliance on Asian and US chip suppliers.
"numbers are a matter of success or failure." European Commission President Ursula von der Lane (Ursula von der Leyen) said in a policy speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday. "We will introduce a new European chip bill that aims to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production. This will ensure the security of our supply and open up new markets for groundbreaking European technology. "
Thierry Breton, the European Union's commissioner for industry, pointed out that chips are not just a key component for carmakers and smartphone makers. "the race for the most advanced chips is about technology and industrial leadership," he wrote in a blog post.
Breton said the European chip bill would cover research, capacity and international cooperation, and the EU should consider setting up a dedicated European semiconductor fund.
The shortage of semiconductors is one of the biggest risks facing the EU's recovery from the epidemic. The European Commission announced last year that it plans to invest 1/5 of its 750 billion euro COVID-19 recovery fund in digital projects.
While global demand for chips has surged, Mr von der Lane is disappointed that Europe's share of the entire chip supply chain, from design to manufacturing capacity, is shrinking and that the EU is highly dependent on Asian-made chips.
Earlier this year, Europe launched the Digital Compass Project, which sets out a vision and approach for Europe's digital transformation by 2030, with one goal of producing 20 per cent of the world's advanced chips by 2030. However, the EU still has many obstacles in the process of building chip capacity, and in addition to companies' reluctance to invest heavily, overseas sources of rare earth metals are also a big problem.
The "lack of core tide" caused by novel coronavirus's epidemic has awakened the sense of crisis in more and more countries, the semiconductor issue has risen to a "technological sovereignty" issue, and countries are competing in this field. The United States also announced last year that (CHIPS for America Act), an American Chip Act aimed at improving the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry, plans to inject tens of billions of dollars into the industry.
