17 EU member states will invest 145 billion euros to increase European share in chips market

According to the reports, some European technology companies have complained that the US sanctions against Huawei and other Chinese companies have created an “America First” trade policy because many American companies can obtain exemptions while companies from other countries have been kicked out of the Chinese market.

So far, many American companies have obtained permission from the US Department of Commerce to continue to supply Huawei, but none of the European suppliers have obtained permission.

European semiconductor suppliers are also subject to US technology and are forced to comply with the US ban. At the same time, US semiconductor companies have also set off a new round of mergers and acquisitions.

After Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP in the Netherlands aborted, this year Nvidia launched another acquisition of ARM in the UK. EU officials believe that the acquisition of Nvidia will threaten the future “digital sovereignty” of Europe.

After learning from the pain, 17 EU member states signed the “European Processor and Semiconductor Technology Plan Joint Statement” at the beginning of this month, announcing that they would invest 145 billion euros (from the European Recovery and Resilience Fund) in the next two to three years to develop semiconductor technology.

Data show that European chips account for only 10% of the global 440 billion euro chip market, mainly relying on imports from the United States and Asia.

(Source)