EU enacts €43 billion Chips Act in bid to boost production

The European Union’s plan to bolster domestic semiconductor production will become law after ministers completed the final approval on Tuesday. 

The EU’s Chips Act, which was approved by the European Parliament earlier this month, will take effect once it’s published in the bloc’s Official Journal.  

The European Commission first proposed the €43 billion ($47.5 billion) Chips Act as part of an ambitious goal of producing 20% of the world’s semiconductors by 2030. Numerous companies, including Intel and STMicroelectronics, have already announced new sites in Europe. 

The EU’s plan paves the way for the bloc to put billions into chip research, and more importantly to allow countries to subsidize the production of “first-of-a-kind” chips. The EU, along with the US, Japan and South Korea, are investing billions into their domestic semiconductor industries, particularly as tensions between China and the US increase and risk disrupting supply chains.