The European Chips Act, announced on Feb. 8 by the European Commission, is set to mobilize €43 billion in public and private funding for the semiconductor industry, with the ambition to double the EU’s current share of global chip production to 20% in 2030.
Regardless of how they communicate, European electronics companies, research institutes, and industry associations are united in their celebration of the Chips Act, but often put a different spin on it.
Here is a quick review of the reactions following the publication of the European Chips Act.
Building resilience
In a statement, the microelectronics industry association SEMI warmly applauded the initiative and outlined the importance of securing a sustainable and resilient supply chain.
“SEMI and the regional electronics ecosystem see the European Chips Act as a major step forward to advance the resilience and growth of the semiconductor industry in Europe,” commented Laith Altimime, president of SEMI Europe. “With the shortage of critical components impacting the growth of numerous industries globally, we applaud the introduction of this timely initiative.”
The Chips Act indeed calls for building on the strengths of the European semiconductor ecosystem and addressing its weaknesses so as to develop a thriving and resilient supply chain and define measures to prepare for, anticipate and respond to future disruptions, SEMI noted.
Ensuring semiconductor relevance
Dutch lithography vendor ASML strongly supported the EC’s proposal, but went one step further with the publication of a “position paper” that presents the company’s views on what the European Chips Act “could and should deliver” to improve Europe’s semiconductor relevance within the global value chain.
The paper, which was written in close consultation with customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders, states:
“The Chips Act should not only focus on chip production. It needs to secure Europe’s relevance in the global semiconductor ecosystem by increasing the capabilities and performance of European products and technologies that others rely on. Europe needs a long-term semiconductor innovation roadmap to guide investment decisions. To define this roadmap, the European semiconductor alliance should bring together the manufacturers of semiconductors, their customers in the major European end-markets, world-leading equipment and materials suppliers, research and technology organizations and policymakers.
For ASML and the co-authors of the position paper, the roadmap should support plans to:
1. Maximize the potential of European champions in semiconductor design, manufacturing equipment and materials, on which the global semiconductor ecosystem depends
2. Invest in the European semiconductor ecosystem to boost Europe’s strong industrial positions in global end-markets;
3. Invest in both mature and advanced semiconductor production in Europe;
4. Attract industry frontrunners to build advanced fabs in Europe;
5. Upgrade European semiconductor process technology research facilities.
Reducing dependencies
Infineon’s CEO Reinhard Ploss, expressed his enthusiasm in a short tweet and a LinkedIn post. He declared, “The European Chips Act is an important step for Europe towards establishing a semiconductor ecosystem at the top global level, strengthening the digitalization and reducing unilateral dependencies. We highly appreciate the initiative of Commissioner Thierry Breton.”
Strengthening Europe’s competitiveness
STMicroelectronics celebrated via LinkedIn the steady work by the European Commission and the Member States to help the semiconductor industry continue to innovate and manufacture in Europe. “This will contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the European semiconductor industry in global markets.”
ST said it intends to actively participate in the EU’s goal of reaching 20% of global production volume by 2030.
ST’s principal wafer fabs are located in Agrate Brianza and Catania (Italy), Crolles, Rousset, and Tours (France), and in Singapore. These are complemented by assembly-and-test facilities located in China, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, the Philippines, and Singapore. In yesterday’s LinkedIn post, the French-Italian chipmaker reaffirmed its commitment to invest about $3.5 billion in CAPEX during fiscal year 2022, both to increase capacity and support longer-term strategic programs. The company explained, “This amount includes $2.1 billion for capacity additions and mix change in our manufacturing footprint, in particular for our wafer fabs (digital 300mm in Crolles, analog 200mm in Singapore, SiC 150mm in Catania and Singapore), as well as assembly and test operations; and $900 million for strategic investments, including the first industrialization line of our new 300mm wafer fab in Agrate, Italy, as well as GaN technology and SiC raw material initiatives. The remaining part of the CAPEX plan covers the overall maintenance and efficiency improvements of our manufacturing operations and infrastructure, as well as our Carbon Neutrality execution program.”
In the longer term, ST said it plans to double its production capacity in Europe in 2025 from 2020 levels, “continuing to be a key contributor to meeting the goals set by the European Commission, reinforcing the supply chain independence of multiple European industries and continuing to be a leading semiconductor player globally.”
Structuring the supply chain
Soitec, a manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers based in Bernin, France, sees the Chips Act as the European Union’s clear ambition to invest in strengthening and structuring a complete and competitive supply chain in Europe.
“This strategy is based on innovation and the conquest of new market segments,” the group commented in a LinkedIn post. “As the European Commissioners explained, innovation in microelectronics starts with substrates and materials, which are upstream in the value chain.”
With its SOI substrates, Soitec said it is contributing to set global standards for semiconductors and better serve fast-growing areas such as 5G, mobility, and connected objects.