The EU is closer to becoming a semiconductor continent – can Sweden make it to the finish line?
The EU countries agree on their view of how the EU should become a semiconductor continent to be reckoned with. Now it will be Sweden’s responsibility to drag the chip teams to the finish line.
The EU accounts for around nine percent of the world’s semiconductors. That figure should be up to 20 percent in seven years, if everything goes as it should.
– It is important because today everyone uses things that contain chips, from mobile phones to dishwashers. And it will be even more important tomorrow, notes Jozef Síkela, Minister of Industry and Trade in the current chairmanship of the Council of Ministers, the Czech Republic, on his way to a meeting with his EU colleagues in Brussels on Thursday.
“Less Dependent”
There, the EU countries’ view of the Commission’s plan to strengthen semiconductor production in the EU with increased cooperation and support for research, development and production is nailed down. With the help of public and private investments, the Commission hopes to unlock a total of 43 billion euros for semiconductors and chips.
– It is an important step to ensure that we actually have companies that can deliver what is so necessary. After all, this is about making both the EU and including Sweden less dependent on other major powers around the world, says Energy and Industry Minister Ebba Busch (KD) on site in Brussels.
Negotiate this spring
Busch himself will have a key role when the so-called “semiconductor act” is to be further negotiated with the EU Parliament when Sweden takes over as the country chairing the Council of Ministers this spring.
An important issue there will be the money. There is already criticism that the Commission’s intended EU sum is only a third of the 135 billion dollars that the US will support its corresponding work with.
– Now it will be up to the trilogues (tripartite negotiations with the EU Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the Commission) which Sweden will lead in the spring to also secure the resources for this. Then I think you should see that it is not only through the chips act and the issue of semiconductors that we will strengthen our competitiveness, but a number of different initiatives are needed, says Ebba Busch.
Fact: Semiconductor
The word semiconductor – “semiconductor” in English – derives from the fact that the material does not conduct current as well as a metal conductor, but also does not completely insulate. The raw material can be, for example, silicon, germanium or selenium, which are designed and doped to obtain the right properties.
The very first semiconductors were manufactured in the 19th century, but they only gained industrial impact at the end of the 1940s in connection with the transistor radio. Today, they are often thinner than hairs and linked together on so-called chips with myriads of wires and connections, which in turn are used to control processes in everything from computers, mobile phones and cars or healthcare equipment, weapons, energy systems and white goods.
