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Globalfoundries CEO Sanjay K. Jha (LR), German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Education Minister Johanna Wanka (CDU), Globalfoundries Fab1 Executive Director Rutger Wijburg and Saxony Minister-President Stanislaw Tillich read about the blank room through a window at Globalfoundries Fab1 in Dresden. , Germany, 14 July 2015. [EPA / ARNO BURGI]
The European Union plans to create a semiconductor alliance that adds STMicroelectronics, NXP, Infineon and ASML to the reliance on foreign chip brands in the midst of a global source chain crisis, 4 EU officials said.
The plan, which is at a very early stage, would possibly come with a pan-European programme known as the Important Project of European Common Interest (IPCEI), which allows EU governments to inject budgets under easier state aid rules, and to joint corporations, project, according to sources.
It would complement or upgrade a foreign-funded plant, with the aim of doubling the EU’s semiconductor market share to 20% by 2030, a target set through European domestic market manager Thierry Breton.
The European Commissioner, who will convince a major chip manufacturer to set up a primary production plant on the block, will meet on Friday with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and hold a video convention with Maria Marced, president of TSMC Europe.
Taiwanese diplomats and officials say TSMC is interested in building a factory in the EU.
However, several EU members have devised the concept of a foreign-funded megafabrication.
“Politicians like bright things and tend to sacrifice long-term trade policies for short-term announcements,” said a senior French official.
“If we step on the feet of European actors, I’m sure our sovereignty will get some of that out,” the source added.
Telecom giant Huawei needs to work alongside European corporations to meet ambitious new semiconductor targets until 2030, as the company continues to face demanding situations arising from U. S. industry restrictions.
Three European Commission officials said they were not happy with a strategy on non-European corporations to build factories and that partnerships between European corporations and their foreign counterparts could work better.
There is also a big question about the capacity of the European domestic market, which lacks a giant smartphone industry, and whether it could be just additional production, the French official said.
These disagreements soften the struggles experienced through the European executive framework to outline a business strategy for its semiconductor industry, which is overshadowed by its Asian competition and does not have a champion with the power of monetary fire to build a new factory.
They also highlight the suspicion that Breton, a French citizen and former executive leader of the ATos IT company, is meeting in the European Union, an official told Reuters. Discussions about strategic autonomy baffle advocates of a flexible market, who see it as a protectionist. said the source.
Officials say the talks are ongoing and there is no final decision. On May 5, Margrethe Vestager, Chief Technology Officer in Brittany and Europe, will provide the Commission’s updated business strategy, basically aimed at semiconductors.
“To be leaders and followers, European industry wants urgent and ambitious action on virtual technologies such as semiconductors, cloud, quantum, area connectivity and batteries,” eu commissioner tweeted Thursday after an assembly in Berlin with German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier.
Breton told the assembly that 22 EU member states had accepted their local production initiative.
A spokesperson for ASML, the world’s largest manufacturer of complex chip production tools, showed that the company had participated in talks conducted through Breton.
“Of course, we bring the point of view of the brands of appliances to the table,” Sander Hofman said.
GlobalFoundries, which manages Europe’s largest semiconductor smelting complex in Dresden, Germany, said: “We are in close contact with the Breton team, the European Commission, the German government and key public governments across Europe. “
STMicro and NXP declined to comment. Infineon responded to a request for comment.
The European Commission will seek to mitigate the dangers arising from the fact that EU knowledge is in the hands of third countries by setting a set of 2030 targets that will cause the bloc to obtain next-generation knowledge processing technologies, revealing documents received through EURACTIV.