The "core shortage" crisis has had a major impact on the automotive and consumer electronics industries, and EU officials are deeply divided over how to resolve the shortage of semiconductors, accusing each other of being "narrow" and "naive".

Thierry Bretton (Thierry Breton), head of internal markets at the European Commission's (European Commission), said on Friday that the EU should seize the opportunity to become a global chip leader. The comments echo France's efforts to secure more state aid funds to help European companies succeed in the international chip field.

"it is an illusion that Europe should rely on chips from other countries," Mr Bretton said at an event on Friday. "it is' naive'to think that we have partial control over this strategic supply chain." the idea that we should miss the idea of producing chips for the EU and the rest of the world is "narrow".

Bretton's comments are directed against the previous comments of Margaret Vestager (Margrethe Vestager), the EU's antitrust chief. Mr Breton's comments came just hours after Mr Vestager said: "[EU chip self-sufficiency] is an illusion that no country or company can do this alone." She warned EU countries not to provide huge subsidies to the domestic chip industry, which could make taxpayers pay for business risks.

The war of words highlights divisions within the EU over how to ease chip shortages as the region tries to address the woes of the car industry and chip shortages. Countries such as France have called for more aid to their companies to develop innovative technologies to catch up with competitors who have received generous government aid.

Semiconductor shortages have forced some European car factories to shut down and forced politicians to call for an expansion of homegrown chip production. Some EU governments have discussed spending billions of euros to expand domestic chip production. Intel has discussed building a factory in Europe if it gets government support.

Mr Bretton said Europe needed "full capacity" and rules that allowed government aid, a direct attack on Mr Vestager's opposition to subsidies.

Vestager said that the EU would need to invest up to 330 billion euros (US $378 billion) in advance to fully meet the demand for self-contained chips, which would lead to "an increase in chip prices and a negative impact on all markets."

Vestager has previously criticised funding for "giant" chipmakers, in line with calls from small European chipmakers that they also need help to produce chips.