BEconomics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to prohibit the sale of a chip production facility by the Dortmund company Elmos to a Chinese investor. This was announced on Tuesday from circles of the Federal Ministry of Economics. The ministry proposed to the federal cabinet that the acquisition be prohibited.
Habeck sees acquisitions in the field of semiconductor manufacturing and chip production critical. The acquisition would pose a threat to public order and security in Germany, it said. “Milder means” than a ban are not suitable for eliminating the identified dangers. The talks were conducted constructively within the federal government.
The Dortmund-based company Elmos had already announced on Monday evening that the federal government would probably ban the sale of chip production in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. This is a new development as the Ministry of Commerce has so far informed the parties involved that the transaction is likely to be approved.
At the end of last year, the company announced that it wanted to sell the production of so-called wafers in Dortmund to the Swedish competitor Silex for a total of around 85 million euros. Silex is a subsidiary of the Chinese Sai group.
Debate on tightening the investment review process
Against the resistance of several departments and at the urging of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the cabinet recently decided that a Chinese company could take a 24.9 percent stake in a terminal in the Port of Hamburg. Critics of such deals fear that China could have too much influence on the infrastructure or important branches of industry in Germany.
After the cabinet’s decision on the port terminal, a debate arose about tightening investment screening procedures. According to sources in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, 44 national investment assessment procedures for the acquisition of German companies or a stake are currently underway. 17 cases involve Chinese investors.
Habeck would therefore now like to make it more difficult for Chinese investors to take over German companies in key technologies. Critical infrastructures in particular should be looked at more closely in the future, as ministry circles said on Tuesday. It is about reducing one-sided dependencies and preventing a technology outflow of key technologies.
In addition to investment review procedures, procedures for investment and export credit guarantees from the federal government should also be “readjusted”, it said. This is to prevent dependencies from developing. It is currently being examined whether there is a need for change in foreign trade law and if so, what.