EU launches multibillion-euro chip strategy to reduce Asia dependence
Brussels, Feb 8 (EFE).- The European Union has set its sights on becoming a leader in the global chip market by 2030 with a strategy to wean the bloc off its dependence on Asia.
The European Chips Act, presented by the Commission Tuesday, proposes the mobilization of over 43 billion euros of public and private investment to rapidly offset future supply chain disruptions and quadruple EU chip production from 9% of the global share to 20%, signifying a quadrupling of output given that demand is forecast to double in that time.
“Chips are crucial in every device, but the pandemic has also painfully exposed the vulnerability of chip supply chains,” EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
“The global shortage of chips has really slowed down our recovery, we have seen that whole production lines came to a standstill, for example with cars. While the demand was increasing, we could not deliver as needed because of the lack of chips.”
The EU’s chip supply is heavily dependent on third-party production, predominantly southeast Asia.
As part of the Commission proposal, 30 billion euros would be allocated to ramping up chip production with the constructions of megafactories within the bloc while another 11 to 12 billion would be earmarked for research, an area where the EU is already a world leader.
The EU’s plan comes days after the United States announced a $52 billion investment to revitalize its chip production. EFE
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