The European Union’s 43 billion euro (roughly Rs. 3,84,120 crore) plan to boost its semiconductor industry and catch up with the United States and Asia is likely to get the green signal from EU countries and lawmakers on April 18. People with direct knowledge of this matter were given information on Wednesday.
The European Commission announced the CHIPS Act last year to cut the EU’s reliance on US and Asian semiconductors after global supply chain problems hurt European businesses ranging from carmakers to manufacturers.
The proposed legislation, which aims to double the bloc’s share in global chip production to 20 percent over the next decade, comes after the United States announced the Chips for America Act to compete with Chinese technology.
EU countries and lawmakers will meet at the European Parliament’s monthly session in Strasbourg on April 18 to negotiate details of funding for the act and possibly reach a deal, the people said.
He said discussions so far have focused on the 400 million euro shortfall, but the EU executive has managed to secure a larger amount of money.
While the Commission originally proposed funding only state-of-the-art chip plants, EU governments and lawmakers have expanded the scope to cover the entire value chain, including older chips and research and design facilities, the people said. Said.
He said MPs cited Belgium-based IMEC, a world-leading innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies and with an ecosystem of more than 600 key industry players, as a key reason for the EU to pump more money into R&D. Told, he said.
Providing funding to the entire value chain also addresses the grievances of smaller EU countries, which were left out after Intel chose Germany for its new mega chip manufacturing campus, attracted by the Chips Act.
Franco-Italian company STMicroelectronics has teamed up with GlobalFoundries to build a 6.7 billion euro (roughly Rs. 59,860 crore) chip factory in France on a government funding basis.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
