BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission on Tuesday set out a billion-euro plan to boost its chip industry, including making it easier for EU governments to provide funding for first-of-a-kind factories, as the bloc tries to cut its dependence on U.S. and Asian companies.
The move by the EU executive mirrors the $52 billion U.S. Chips Act aimed at increasing its competitiveness with China and comes as a global chip shortage and supply chain bottlenecks create havoc for car makers, healthcare providers, telecoms operators and others.
The European Chips Act will “enable 15 billion euros ($17 billion) in additional public and private investment by 2030”, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement to the media.
“This will come on top of 30 billion euros of public investments already planned from NextGenerationEU, Â Horizon Europe and national budgets,” she said, referring to ongoing EU projects.
($1 = 0.8763 euros)
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, writing by Foo Yun Chee)