A group of nine EU countries is working together to accelerate plans for the European chip industry. The coalition, led by the Netherlands, wants to present proposals for a possible second EU funding program for the semiconductor industry by the summer.
The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Dirk Beljaarts indicates that the coalition, including Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, is “homework for the new Chips Act”. This should follow the current Chips Act from 2023, which, according to critics, has not met the most important objectives but has prevented a further decline of the European industry.
A frequently heard criticism of the current Chips Act is that the process in which member states provide funding and the European Commission approves projects is too slow. Beljaarts emphasizes that the goal is to work more focused the second time around. “We need to allocate funds, both private and public funds to push the sector, also to make sure that the trickle-down effect takes place and that (small and medium-size) companies also benefit,” the minister said.
The Semicon Coalition, as the collaboration is officially called, was ratified on March 12 in Brussels. The coalition focuses on three key points: increasing production capacity, freeing up more public and private funding, and training people for the chip sector.
Strengthening Europe’s position
Although Europe has strong players in R&D and equipment, including the Dutch company ASML, according to Beljaarts, there are gaps in chip packaging and advanced production. This became clear after Intel postponed plans for an advanced factory in Germany.
The coalition is investigating “what the internal demand would be from European countries… so that companies know it is worth starting to invest,” explains Beljaarts. The European Chips Act of 2023 aimed to double the European market share in chip production from 10 to 20 per cent. However, critics argued that 43 billion euros was insufficient to achieve this goal.
The European Commission has indicated that it “strongly supports” the new coalition. The nine participating countries are Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.