The member countries of the European Union have agreed to support a plan of 45,000 million of euros destined to finance the manufacture of chips. This step brings the region one step closer to its goal of reducing reliance on US and Asian manufacturers for processors.
The European Union, according to Reuters, has supported the plan unanimously, although it is a version that includes several amendments with respect to the initial proposal put forward by the European Commission. This has been stated by the Czech Republic, which currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, which is rotating.
The next step that the EU will take to definitively approve the plan is to validate it at a meeting of ministers of the European Union that will take place on December 1st. Even so, it will need to be debated in the European Parliament next year before it becomes law.
The EU made this proposal after a global chip shortage and various bottlenecks in the supply chain sparked a crisis, which hit car manufacturers, healthcare providers and telecom operators particularly hard. After its entry into force, it is expected that the EU manages to capture 20% of the world’s chip manufacturing quota by 2030. Currently they only have 8%, a very drastic drop from the 24% they had in the year 2000.
Among the changes that European Commission envoys have accepted to their original proposal is allowing state subsidies for a wider range of chips, and not just the most advanced ones. The grants, therefore, will cover chips that innovate in computing power, energy efficiency, environmental improvements and Artificial Intelligence.
EU countries have also tried, with the amendments, to curb the powers of the European Commission, since they have indicated that requests for information from companies during a crisis must be proportionate and focused on security. Of course, European legislators still have an important task ahead: discuss extensively where to get the funding from for the project to manufacture chips in Europe in greater quantity.
The Commission had set aside money for the project to make chips in the EU from various research programs and unspent funds for other matters. This has drawn criticism from some EU countries, which say it may unfairly benefit countries that already have chip-making facilities, or are prepared to lure chipmakers.
