On Tuesday 14 July, the European Commission announced authorisation of German State aid worth €659 million for four semiconductor production projects, in line with EU State aid rules and objectives of the European Chips Act. Subsidies will benefit Element 3-5 (€353 million), Vishay (€214 million), KLA (€74.4 million) and KETEK (€17.9 million).
The Commission believes that these investments will strengthen resilience of the European supply chain and the European Union’s strategic autonomy with regard to critical technologies. In the event of shortages, beneficiaries have in specifically undertaken to cooperate with research bodies, develop specialised training, and give priority to European orders.
This decision is part of the EU industrial strategy aimed at developing chip production capacity on European Union territory. It comes a few weeks after the Commission presented its proposal for the Chips Act 2.0 (see EUROPE 13880/3), intended to speed up development of European semiconductor industry. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)