"The European Chips Act is a very important initiative which the Committee of the Regions (CoR) strongly supports. We must build on our strengths in semiconductors in Europe and use our potential. Above all, research and development of new technologies need targeted support. Overall, the EU and the member states must invest more fresh money to give a strong impulse for the European semiconductor industry. That is why the funding of the Chips Act should be part of the next MFF from 2028 on. The main benefit of the European Chips Act is a secure supply of semiconductors for the European industry. All regions in Europe will benefit from this." Thomas Schmidt, Minister for Regional Development, Free State of Saxony (Germany) made these remarks when presenting his opinion on the 'European Chips Act' at the CoR plenary in Brussels.
The CoR Rapporteur said that he expects consultations by Parliament and Council to proceed quickly so that the Chips Act will be adopted as soon as possible. He added that the European Commission must immediately and consistently go ahead with implementation.”
Schmidt also stressed the need to invest in training. "A key to the success of the chips act is the training of skilled workers from research to production through the establishment of a 'Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Semiconductors' and a 'Semiconductor Academy' following the example of the 'Battery Academy'. SMEs should also get access to new pilot lines and the new 'Chip Joint Undertaking'."
The opinion notes that local and regional authorities (LRAs) have a strong shared interest in having a secure supply of semiconductors due to their local economies' high, indirect dependence on them. Therefore, given their proximity to semiconductor ecosystems, LRAs should be given a key role in implementing the European Chips Act.
Eddy van Hijum, Member of the Council of the Province of Overijssel (Netherlands) expressed his concern that Europe is becoming too dependent on Asia for the production of microchips. "We need to start producing more ourselves. This requires a smart European industrial policy, a policy that recognises the power of innovative regions, which strengthens the cooperation between strong European clusters and that focuses on training, attracting and retaining talent.
The opinion states that cities and regions can play a major role to strengthen the European semiconductors industry by bringing together all involved actors to further develop local production and research facilities. In this regard, van Hijum shared the advances made in his province, in particular, in the Twente region which is a hotspot for the design and application of fast and energy-efficient photonic chips. "Local governments, SMEs and knowledge institutions in Twente work together and this has led, among other things, to the production of the first photonic quantum computer in Europe." van Hijum also outlined the opportunities that the Chips Act presents to regions. "The Chips Act creates the opportunity to connect Twente even more with other strong chip-tech regions in Europe, such as Saxony and Grenoble to scale up test, development and production facilities together and to connect regions, so that Europe as a whole becomes less vulnerable and dependent."