Semiconductor chips are the essential building blocks of digital and digitised products. From smartphones and cars, through critical applications and infrastructures for healthcare, energy, communications and industrial automation, chips are central to the modern digital economy.

The Chair of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, DE), issued the following statement after the presentation of the European Chips Act proposal:

“Industrial production, technological developments such as artificial intelligence and the need to transition to a circular economy – the green and digital transformations – rely on chips. I therefore welcome the Chips Act’s aim at fostering production and enhancing the internal market’s resilience in times of crises.

The Chips Act’s toolbox builds upon experiences of shortages of medical equipment during the pandemic as well as the most recent dire shortages in semiconductors. It gives an idea of how the Commission envisions the announced single market emergency mechanism for other sectors. While monitoring supply chains, notifying problems and enabling the Commission to negotiate purchase of crisis relevant products will enhance preparedness, export controls of essential products as the ultimate tool seem a very far-reaching crisis response in a globalised economy.

The Chips Act will use a certification scheme to ensure green, trusted and secure chips, also tackling the design stage. However, it falls short in addressing the need for circular economy by design, the reuse of chips and its raw materials in order to meet the Green Deal’s goals with diverse and short supply chains”.

The legislative proposals on a European Chips Act will now be discussed in the European Parliament – committee(s) to be determined – and in the Council, under the ordinary legislative procedure(codecision).