Italy set aside $4.4 billion to boost semiconductor industry

According to foreign media reports, Italy will invest more than 4 billion euros (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) to develop the domestic semiconductor industry to support the transformation of enterprises to greener technologies.

　　On March 2, local time, the new Italian government decree came into effect. As part of the decree, the Italian government approved a new funding plan to invest 150 million euros in 2022, followed by an annual allocation of 500 million euros until 2030.

　　The funding will provide funding for research and technology in the chip space to increase strategic independence and could benefit automakers, especially those looking to upgrade technology to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.

　　In February, the European Union announced a new Chip Act aimed at avoiding supply chain disruptions by reducing reliance on foreign chip suppliers. The Chip Act is intended to spend 43 billion euros, enabling the EU to double its current global market share to 20% by 2030.

　　The Act defines two types of investment entities in production facilities that are conducive to the security of European chip supply: one is "open EU factories", which refer to companies that produce and design chip components for other companies; the other is "integrated production facilities", which refer to serving companies in the local parts market. Investment in the latter must be a European "first", i.e. an equivalent facility does not yet exist in Europe.

　　Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger, who has urged the U.S. and Europe to move forward with plans to revive local chip production, argues that chipmakers need government investment to address the over-concentration of production in Asia. It is reported that Intel is planning to build a chip production base in Germany and other production facilities in Italy and France.

Source: ce.cn - Jiang Zhiwen - 盖世汽车 谭璇 - 03/03/2022