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The European Union's 43 billion euro ($47 billion) plan to boost its semiconductor industry and catch up with the United States and Asia is likely to get the green light from EU countries and lawmakers on April 18, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The European Commission announced the Chips Act last year in a bid to cut EU reliance on U.S. and Asian semiconductors following global supply chain problems that hurt European businesses from carmakers to manufacturers.
China's southern Guangdong province is planning to launch a second phase of a semiconductor fund with a scale of 30 billion yuan ($4.37 billion), state media Securities Times reported on Tuesday. The fund will have a term of 17 years and will invest in auto chips and equipment for semiconductor...
Details are not out yet. But there is a major difference between the two. In the US you have a central government taking the decisions and handing out the money. In EU no money from the Commission for the production initiatives (only R&D) and each member state will be able to support the industrial initiatives in its territory provided a) it has the money to spend, b) its plan pass the scrutiny by the ayatollah of the competition authorities in Brussels...
As for beneficiaries very likely ST/GF in France, Intel (provided IFS will still exists) and maybe TSMC/Bosch/IFX in Germany, IFX in Austria and ST and maybe Intel (same about IFS) in Italy on the manufacturing side. Probably ASML, ASM, EVG, Leica, Zeiss on the equipment side. Look for the origin of the vaunted 43B€ in the official documents and be surprised.
Sounds like the EU version has less strings attached. The biggest benefit of these acts are the positive press for the semiconductor industry and how important we are. The safety of Taiwan also benefits in this regard.
Now that we have all experienced semiconductor supply shortages hopefully we will better protect the global semiconductor supply chain. Building fabs around the world is a good start but it is just the start.
