The European Commission has announced a series of measures to compensate for ongoing shortages in semi-conductors.
Recent global shortages have caused issues in the production of set-top boxes, cars and healthcare devices. The Commission says the shortages and the dependency on the semiconductor value chain have led to production in some member states being reduced by a third.
It’s planned the European Chips Act will capitalise on €43 billion of public and private investments to build Europe’s current market share in semiconductors to 20% by 2030.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said: “Chips are necessary for the green and digital transition – and for the competitiveness of European industry. We should not rely on one country or one company to ensure the safety of supply. We must do more together – in research, innovation, design, production facilities – to ensure that Europe will be stronger as a key actor in the global value chain. It will also benefit our international partners. We will work with them to avoid future supply issues.”
The move follows comments by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her 2021 State of the Union speech when she set out a vision to create create a state-of-the-art European chip ecosystem.
The Commission has now published a targeted stakeholder survey in order to gather detailed information on current and future demand.
