All EU member states have now signed on to a Dutch initiative to strengthen the bloc’s semiconductor sector, officials said.
Eight EU countries had already announced in March that they would cooperate in the so-called Semicon Coalition.
Measures and funding
The member states call chips crucial “for society, economy and security,” the statement said.
With the approval, they favor more investment in the sector, including through private funding. This should give Europe greater chip production and make it less dependent on the United States and China.
Public money should also be made available, for example in the new EU budget for the years 2028 to 2034. That money will go, for example, to development and research.
The member states also want to improve cooperation between business and universities so that graduates can find jobs within the EU more quickly and easily. “In this way, less knowledge will flow out of the member states,” the statement said.
The Dutch company ASML is a world player when it comes to the equipment needed to make chips. That also makes the company strategically important. The export of certain chip machines to China, for example, is blocked because of competitive sensitivity.
