Microchips are the latest technology to be the focus of a ‘Made in the EU’ drive by Brussels, which has already pumped millions of euros into batteries, quantum computing and the cloud.
According to a new strategy published on 8 February, the EU will allocate around €11 billion of public funding to develop new semiconductor technology and ramp up the production of chips within its borders.
More than €30 billion in further investment from the private sector is being targeted by the architect of the ‘EU Chips Act’, the European Commission, which is the EU’s executive branch.
A miniscule 9 per cent of global microchip production is currently located in the EU, and the goal of the Chips Act is to increase that to 20 per cent by 2030. If achieved, this would still only be a slight clawback of the 40 per cent that the EU could boast back in the 1990s.
It is not the first time that the EU has sought a lucrative slice of the chips market, which is currently...