On Wednesday 10 May, Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union gave the green light to the European Parliament/EU Council provisional agreement on the ‘Chips Act’ regulation. The text still needs to be legally revised, translated and approved by the European Parliament before being formally adopted by the EU Council. This will probably not happen until September 2023.
The co-legislators agreed on 18 April (see EUROPE 13164/3) on the regulation and specifically on the amount to be allocated to the ‘Chips for Europe’ initiative (pillar I of the text). The EU plans to inject €3.3 billion into semiconductor production on the continent, while hoping to attract a total of €43 billion in private and public investment by 2030.
By way of comparison, the US will invest over $50 billion of public money in the semiconductor economy.
However, it is an important message that the EU is sending with its ‘Chips Act’, insisted an EU source. “All producers around the world will benefit from massive public support. Now Europe will also allows it”, the source argued.
The text will also promote semiconductor manufacturing sites qualified as “pioneer facilities” in the granting of State aid, and will speed up the procedures for obtaining production permits.
Indeed, a second European source noted that the European Commission had recently approved two State aid measures related to semiconductor production that were described as “pioneering” within the EU.
Launch of the Semiconductor Alert System
On Wednesday, the European Commission also launched its semiconductor alert system, which will monitor the functioning of value chains. The information that is collected will allow disruption risks to be assessed and a rapid response to a potential crisis.
The European Commission had recommended in its ‘Chips Act’ package that an expert group on semiconductors should be established. This must be based on real-time information, which is why the European Commission is setting up this alert system. In the event of a disruption, stakeholders will be able to compile a form on an online platform.
See the platform: https://aeur.eu/f/6tl (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)