In her State of the Union address held on 15 September in Strasbourg, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the current global shortage of semiconductors (or ‘chips’) and lamented the EU’s present reliance on chips manufactured in Asia.
“…This is not just a matter of our competitiveness. This is also a matter of tech sovereignty. So let’s put all of our focus on it,” she said. “We will present a new European Chips Act. We need to link together our world-class research, design and testing capacities. We need to coordinate EU and national investment along the value chain.
“The aim is to jointly create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem, including production. That ensures our security of supply and will develop new markets for groundbreaking European tech. That ensures our security of supply and will develop new markets for groundbreaking European tech.”
In a blog post commenting on the announcement, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton stated his belief that the new Act should cover three dimensions:
- A European Semiconductor Research Strategy
- A collective plan to enhance European production capacity
- A framework for international cooperation and partnership
“Semiconductors are at the centre of strong geostrategic interests, and at the core of the global technological race,” he wrote.
“Superpowers are keen to secure their supply in the most advanced chips as they are well aware that it will condition their capacity to act (militarily, economically, industrially) and drive digital transformation.”
