Semiconductors, here are the European companies on which Brussels is aiming against China
European commissioner Breton announced the EU goal of doubling the semiconductor production quota. Here are the companies he is talking to
Brussels does not intend to lag behind China and the United States in the field of semiconductors.
Yesterday, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton announced the goal of increasing the global share of microprocessor production within the EU to 20% from the current 10% by 2030.
The global chip shortage has also hit Europe and the automotive sector in particular, showing weaknesses in supply chains.
One strand of the plan is to get a state-of-the-art chip maker to build a chip factory in Europe. In parallel, European Commissioner Thierry Breton wants to forge an alliance of companies with the aim of expanding Europe's current strengths.
It would therefore target production below 5 nanometers down to 2 nanometers, an ambitious goal not yet achieved by industry leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (Tsmc) or Korea's Samsung.
However, there are fears that Europe may be wasting money due to the high cost and complexity of manufacturing advanced semiconductors, in which Asia is far ahead. Analysts – explains the Wall Street Journal – say that it will be difficult for other manufacturers to catch up in a sector that requires large capital investments.
As La Stampa reports today , “Breton has recently met all the main European and American producers, starting with the Germans of Infineon, the Italian-French of Stm and the Dutch Nxp and Asml. But so far the most interesting answers has been received from the Americans of Intel who intend to invest a good 20 billion in Europe, with the EU that could guarantee 8 billion, all to create 8 different production poles, including one located in Italy ”.
BRETON'S CHIP PLAN SHARED BY ITALY
Yesterday, the Minister for Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti met with Breton, on a mission to Italy. At the center of the bilateral meeting, he informed a communiqué from the Mise, the European vaccination plan, the dossiers relating to the defense and aerospace sectors and the strategy on microprocessors.
With reference to the latter, Breton announced the goal of increasing the share of chip production in the EU.
"A goal shared by Minister Giorgetti who stressed the need to launch an extraordinary investment support plan, in which Italian companies will be able to play a leading role thanks to their skills and expertise".
“Large investments on the table, in addition to the funds made available by the Recovery plan, are the 140 billion euros allocated by the« Digital Compass ». On the other hand, Italy has just launched a 1.7 billion fund for companies investing in research, development and innovation in the context of "Important projects of common European interest" (Ipcei) ", recalled La Stampa .
THE SEMICONDUCTORS AT THE CENTER OF THE US-EU ALLIANCE AGAINST CHINA
Meanwhile, the United States has also allocated $ 52 billion for domestic chip production.
The production of semiconductors in Europe and the United States will be one of the key points of a new technological alliance between the two countries to compete with China. Last month, Brussels and Washington inaugurated the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) .
A statement on the summit includes a commitment to build "an EU-US partnership on rebalancing global semiconductor supply chains".
THE US COLOSSUS INTEL LOOKS RIGHT TO THE EU
And it is a US semiconductor giant, Intel, which is lobbying several states of the European Union to obtain European financial support for its $ 20 billion investment project to build several new plants for the production of advanced chips .
As reported by the Financial Times , Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently met and discussed the project with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Intel is able to make its knowledge and a lot of money available to Europe in order to meet the EU countries' goal of doubling current chip production.
A SEMICONDUCTOR FACTORY IN EUROPE
According to the FT , Intel is looking for 1,000 acres of land in which to develop the infrastructure, as well as financial support.
The site will be able to support up to eight chip manufacturing plants called fabs. Intel has explored the potential of factories by targeting countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium. The decision is expected by the end of the year.
The launch is expected to include two fabs for a ten-year operation costing approximately $ 20 billion. The total investment for the entire plant could instead exceed $ 100 billion, according to Intel executives.
Speaking to the Financial Times , the chip- making firm's executives made no secret of their interest in bolstering semiconductor manufacturing in more EU member states, suggesting that if Intel's requirements for a new European manufacturing facility are satisfied, there could be a real "interest at EU level" in expanding new structures and services in this direction.
THE MEETING OF BRETON WITH THE GERMAN INFINEON
But in addition to Intel's proposal, Commissioner Breton is aiming at the project of an industrial alliance between European chipmakers for semiconductor technologies.
In early July, Breton met with Infineon's chief executive, Reinhard Ploss. "It is very important that Infineon, as a major European semiconductor player, can participate in the next European semiconductor alliance," said the commissioner, encouraging the semiconductor manufacturer to work closely with end-user companies such as industry. automotive.
"Infineon welcomes EU Commissioner Breton's initiative to expand chip production in Europe and thereby strengthen technological sovereignty," Ploss said on the occasion.
BET ON MODERN TECHNOLOGY, NOT AVANT-GARDE
However, the German Infineon has expressed doubts about the ambitions of chip production in Europe from 20 to 10 nanometers.
“We think Europe should focus on bringing forward modern, but not cutting edge technology” to meet local demand, Helmut Gassel, Infineon Technologies AG's chief marketing officer, said in an interview .
As Bloomberg explained, “The decline of the region's consumer electronics industry over the past few decades has left Europe with no obvious customers for smaller, more powerful components. Car manufacturers, whose vehicles have room for older chips, are currently the largest demand for semiconductors. "
THE SKEPTICISM OF THE DUTCH NXP
Dutch manufacturer Nxp is also not too keen on European plans to build a state-of-the-art factory. "It doesn't have to be the most advanced type," Nxp executive Jean Schreurs told Forum magazine when asked about plans to build a new semiconductor factory in Europe.
According to Schreurs, an automotive chip factory would be more useful.
THE POSITION OF STM
Even the CEO of the Franco-Italian manufacturer StMicroelectronics, Jean-Marc Chery, has removed his company from the ambitions of the EU. “When it comes to advanced technologies, we have no reason to participate,” Chery told French news channel BFM TV this month. "This is marginal to our business."
INEVITABLE ALLIANCE WITH INTEL ACCORDING TO THE EXPERTS
Therefore, the alliance with Intel is inevitable for the experts, if you even want to imagine scratching the monopoly of Taiwanese Tsmc, which alone produces 92% of the most sophisticated chips. Taiwan, together with China, South Korea and the US dominates the chip market. Europe, which is absent in the ranking of the main world groups, is instead a net importer of high technology. With all that goes with it ”concludes La Stampa.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/semiconduttori-ecco-le-aziende-europee-su-cui-punta-bruxelles-contro-la-cina/ on Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:43:18 +0000.