BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) – The European Union plans to invest tens of billions of euros to strengthen its semiconductor industry and double its share of global chip production to 20 %, declared the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
The global shortage of semiconductors has highlighted the risks for the EU of depending on Asian and European suppliers and the need to complete its project, set out in the European digital plan for 2030, to concentrate in Europe at least 20% of the world’s production of sustainable and next-generation chips by 2030.
Faced with increased competition from China, the United States announced last year a plan to invest 52 billion dollars in the semiconductor sector.
“I won’t give you the level of investment today, but it will be equivalent to what the United States wants to invest,” said Thierry Breton of the journalists.
The European Commission plans to detail on February 8 its plan to strengthen European sovereignty over chips, with investments planned over the next two to three decades.
“We are doing everything he does to attract strategic investments,” said Thierry Breton. “We set our conditions, (…), security of supply, no public aid for catch-up technologies”. (Report Jan Strupczewski; French version Jean Terzian)