President Berg welcomes the draft regulation as a milestone to strengthen the European semiconductor industry
Berlin, 8 February 2022 – The EU Commission is presenting the EU Chips Act to promote the European chip industry today. Bitkom President Achim Berg states:
"The EU Chips Act is an important milestone to strengthen the semiconductor industry in Europe. For Europe and Germany, the aim must be to compete for technologies and innovations on an equal footing with global pioneers such as the USA and Asia - as a strong, self-confident, digitally sovereign player. In doing so, it is important to maintain openness to the world market and complex global supply relationships. Demand for semiconductors has grown rapidly all over the world in recent years and will continue to grow in the future. Key sectors of the digital economy such as telecommunications, data centres, cloud and edge computing are just as dependent on a reliable supply of semiconductors as the classic industrial sectors of automotive or mechanical engineering.
We welcome the speedy preparation of the draft regulation. The pace of European strategic initiatives is crucial for the successful expansion of the digital infrastructure, whereby the requirements for computing power, availability and reliability are increasing disproportionately. The European semiconductor value chain must be strengthened from start to finish. This starts with research and innovation, extends to the development of design competencies and comprehensive production expansion, and also includes the manufacturing of materials and production equipment. This should be done in close cooperation with user industries in Europe.
For the expansion of semiconductor production in Europe, the EU Chips Act provides for the adjustment of state aid rules for public support of European so-called 'first-of-a-kind' factories. This is the foundation for realising attractive framework conditions within the competitive international environment for the settlement of such factories and technological ecosystems, in particular for cutting-edge semiconductor technologies. The EU Chips Act also aims to diversify supply chains and strengthen interdependencies in order to establish international partnerships at an equal footing. This is an important prerequisite for Germany and Europe to be sovereign actors in interconnected global value creation and to be able to decide between different trustworthy partners in a self-determined and self-confident manner."
