Chips Act 2.0: Authorities should buy more European chips

“Buy local,” EU Commission wants to suggest to authorities, specifically for processors from European start-ups. This is to become part of the second Chips Act.

Henna Virkkunen is planning a second part of the European Chips Act. The EU Commissioner is responsible for technological sovereignty, security, and democracy.

(Image: Mäntyniemi, 2024)

at 8:03 am CEST

2 min. read

By

Daniel AJ Sokolov

Authorities should prioritize ordering their processors from EU start-ups. Furthermore, environmental permits for chip factories should be issued more quickly. With these measures, the EU Commission wants to support semiconductor production in the Union, Reuters reports. A second Chips Act is in the works.

For strategic reasons, the European Union wants to double its global market share in semiconductor production from ten to 20 percent by 2030. To this end, EU Regulation 2021/694, known as the “Chips Act,” came into force on September 21, 2023. Billions are already available for funding research, development, and manufacturing, as well as for start-ups, scale-ups, and advances in the supply chain. The regulation has not yet met the expectations placed upon it; for example, several major projects have been cancelled again despite promised billions in subsidies.

However, the regulation has also not had much time to take effect. As time is pressing, a second Chips Act is now being prepared, and the EU Commission is preparing further measures. The Commissioner for Digital, Henna Virkkunen, is developing corresponding proposals and wants to present them on June 3rd.

Internal document leaked

An internal document related to this has now been leaked to the Reuters news agency. It reports that the EU Commission wants to accelerate environmental permit procedures for facilities in the processor production chain. Above all, however, chip start-ups are to be supported through domestic demand. Specifically, the public sector should invest in them, not only for potential subsidies but also for procurement.

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“Through Demand Accelerators, the Chips Act 2.0 will also aim to boost tghe use of EU-designed and EU-made chips by linking suppliers with users via offtake agreements and a demand forum,” Reuters quotes. “To stimulate demand and support EU-based start-ups and scale-ups, the Chips Act 2.0 will deploy public innovation procurement as a strategic tool.”