Dresden/Brussels (dpa/sn) – Saxony’s representatives from politics and business have welcomed the Brussels agreement on the expansion of the chip industry in the EU as an important step. “The Chips Act is extremely important because it creates reliability for investors in Europe,” said Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer on Wednesday on the sidelines of the skilled workers’ summit in Dresden. According to the CDU politician, it is now a mandatory requirement that investments in this area can be successful.
On Tuesday evening, the EU agreed to mobilize 43 billion euros for the expansion of the microchip industry in the EU. The investments for this should come from the EU budget and the private sector, among others. 3.3 billion euros are planned from the EU budget. One of the goals is for the EU share of the world market for chips to grow from almost 10 to 20 percent by 2030. The European Parliament and EU states still have to formally agree to the agreement – but that is considered a formality.
The so-called chip law is primarily intended to reduce dependency on Asian countries. Semiconductors are used in products such as cars, household appliances, cell phones and many other goods.
The chip manufacturer Globalfoundries, with a plant in Dresden, praised the chip law as a “central building block in the future strategy of the European Union”. A resilient and innovative industry needs crisis-proof access to powerful, energy-efficient and safe microelectronics. According to the company, Europe has a lot of ground to make up after the failures of the last few decades. The Chips Act is an important step in the right direction.
The chip company Infineon, which is scheduled to start building a new plant in Dresden this fall, also welcomed the latest progress in the EU Chips Act. First, however, the company wants to analyze the compromise text of the Council, Commission and Parliament. Only then can Infineon make a final assessment. “We have always emphasized that production in Europe is not the only decisive factor,” said the group on request. Research, chip design, software and not least the strengthening of European markets as well as supply chains and semiconductor demand are just as important to ensure the sustainability of investments.
Saxony’s Minister of State Thomas Schmidt demanded that Europe and the Free State must reduce the greatest strategic dependencies in semiconductor production, in the supply chains and in the supply of raw materials and preliminary products. According to the CDU politician, the EU is excellently positioned with the Chips Act to produce materials and machines in the semiconductor value chain. In addition, it has an excellent research landscape and is very good at developing chips for a wide variety of applications.
Saxony’s Economics Minister Martin Dulig had already praised the agreement as “extremely important” on Twitter on Tuesday evening. According to the SPD politician, the agreement for Saxony means that important investments, for example in the expansion of Infineon, can flow.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:230419-99-372971/4
