The European Commission proposed today the European Chips Act - a comprehensive set of measures to confront semiconductor shortages and strengthen Europe's technological leadership in the field. The aim is to bolster Europe's competitiveness, resilience and help achieve the twin transition, including the 2030 Digital Decade target - empowering businesses and people in a human-centred, sustainable and more prosperous digital future.

Chips remain strategic assets for key industrial value chains. With the digital transformation, new markets for the chip industry are emerging such as highly automated cars, cloud, IoT, connectivity (5G/6G), space/defence, computing capacities and supercomputers. Semiconductors are also at the centre of strong geopolitical interests, conditioning countries capacity to act and drive digital.

The proposed European Chips Act includes the following main components:

• The Chips for Europe Initiative under which €11 billion will be made available to strengthen existing research, development and innovation, to ensure the deployment of advanced semi-conductor tools, pilot lines for prototyping, testing and experimentation of new devices for innovative real-life applications, to train staff and to develop an in-depth understanding of the semi-conductor ecosystem and value chain.
• A new framework to ensure security of supply and a Chips Fund to facilitate access to finance for start-ups to help them mature their innovations and attract investors. 
• A coordination mechanism between the Member States and the Commission for monitoring the supply of semiconductors, estimating demand and anticipating the shortages.

The Commission also issued an accompanying Recommendation to Member States to enable the coordination mechanism between the Member States and the Commission.

Learn more here.

Find the proposed European Chips Act and accompanying Recommendation here.