EU reaches agreement to expand semiconductor production

The stated objective is to reach 20% of the world market by 2030. © John Minchillo - AP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The European Parliament and the member countries of the European Union reached an agreement on Tuesday 18 April on a plan to develop the semiconductor industry to reduce European dependence on Asia in this strategic sector.

Advertising

Read more

«

Europe takes its destiny into its own hands ", welcomed the European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, welcoming this text known as the "Chips Act". "By harnessing the most advanced semiconductors, the EU will become an industrial powerhouse in the markets of the future," he added.

We have a deal on EU #ChipsAct!🇪🇺

In a geopolitical context of de-risking, Europe is taking its destiny into its own hands.

By mastering the most advanced semiconductors, EU will become an industrial powerhouse in markets of the future.

Congrats @sweden2023eu & @Europarl_EN pic.twitter.com/BX52GXOdws

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) April 18, 2023

The stated objective is to reach 20% of the global market by 2030, twice as much as today, by mobilizing 43 billion euros of public and private investment in this industry. The European Union, at the forefront of flea research, has seen its market share fall in recent decades.

Essentials in everyday objects

The shortage of semiconductors, which has held back the automotive industry, has caused an electric shock. Geopolitical tensions around China, as well as the pandemic, have raised awareness of the need to produce in Europe these essential components, mainly imported from Taiwan and Korea, to the point of convincing the Commission to relax its strict state aid framework and to assume an interventionist industrial policy in a continent traditionally very open to global competition.

These components are essential in many everyday objects, such as mobile phones, but also in data storage centers, at the heart of the booming digital economy.

► Also listen: Semiconductors, the new oil of the economy

(With AFP)

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

  • European Union
  • Technologies
  • New technologies
  • Industry
  • Economy