The EU Chips Act: How semiconductor ecosystems increase competitiveness in Europe’s regions
On December 7, 2022, Intel hosted an event in Magdeburg to demonstrate the added value of investing in the European semiconductor ecosystem. Hear directly from industry leaders and government officials as they describe how the EU Chips Act will help ensure security of supply, resilience, and technological leadership in semiconductor technologies and applications in Europe. Participants included: Minister Sven Schulze, Minister for Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt; Roberto Viola, Director-General at the European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT): MEP Eva Maydell, EPP lead MEP on Chips Act Package in the European Parliament: Minister Martijn van Gruijthuijsen, Member of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Minister for Economic Affairs, Finance, Knowledge and Talent Development for the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant: Pierre Millette, Smart Mobility Director at the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) And Hendrik Bourgeois, Vice President, European Government Affairs at Intel.
Transcript
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What we are trying to do with the CHIPS Act is to make sure that we make basically Europe appealing for businesses. And tonight's event is a demonstration of such cooperation where business is excited to invest in Europe.
Especially if you look to Saxony-Anhalt, where Intel is invested in now in Magdeburg, we have actors from the region. We have, for example, SMEs who work there, and who are really interested to work together with the big company, Intel. And we have to find a solution. And in the end, I think it's a benefit for all.
The biggest problem at the moment is shortage, a shortage of semiconductors. At the same time, while demand is rising in the other world, faster than it is at the market as a whole. We would also benefit from having shorter supply chains, better predictability. That's better for manufacturing overall. And I hope we can also have products, semiconductors that are better suited to the auto industry's needs, the kind of larger scale nodes that we have. And to have this kind of closer cooperation with semiconductor manufacturers, that will allow us to develop new technology.
I think that regions and cities in Europe play a very important role in the resilience of Europe. The way to stay ahead is to innovate. And to innovate, you need really skilled R&D people, but also practical engineer people. Regions really know to bring together the big companies, the startups, the SMEs, the researchers, and the employees.
What's important for Europe's industrial policy is to make sure that it reinforces our innovation potential. And by doing so, I believe it will contribute to economic growth, to more jobs, and to making sure we truly invest in this cutting edge technology.
That's a benefit for all the big company, Intel, it's a benefit for all the SMEs, and in the end, we have-- we are stronger together. And this is what is important. And we are looking to the future. We are really happy with this investment now.
The takeaways from the event this evening is the need for developing ecosystem to foster investments in the semiconductor industry, the critical importance of collaboration amongst industry stakeholders, and also with the public sector. And last but not least, it's very important, I think, for Europe to find ways to attract right talent, which is necessary and critical to develop a robust semiconductor industry in Europe.
Europe needs to massively invest in semiconductor manufacturing. Today, it has a small market share in global manufacturing. It needs to increase its market share. And in order to achieve that, it only has one option, which is to invest in manufacturing. And it will have to help private sector investors to make those investments by developing the right policy tools. And those include subsidies and state aid.
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