sector to make sure more production occurs in the
United States.
As the economy has bounced back from
the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year,
there has been a supply chain bottleneck for
semiconductors. In Europe, some consumers
have had to wait up to almost a year to get a car
because of a lack of spare parts.
“The pandemic has also painfully exposed the
vulnerability of its supply chains,” von der Leyen
said. “We have seen that whole production lines
came to a standstill.”
“While the demand was increasing, we could not
deliver as needed because of the lack of chips,” she
added. As a result, factory belt lines ground to a
halt, some factories had to temporarily close and
workers were left unemployed because of lack of
electronic parts.
Semiconductors are the tiny microchips that act
as the brains for everything from smartphones to
cars, and an extended shortage has highlighted
the importance of chipmakers, most of which are
based in Asia, to global supply chains.
Von der Leyen said Europe’s Chips Act will link
research, design and testing and coordinate EU
and national investment. The 43 billion euro plan
pools public and private funds and allows for state
aid to get the massive investments of the ground.
The prospect of massive industrial subsidies at
irst seems like a blast from Europe’s past, when
overreaching state involvement stiled creativity
and kept ambitious newcomers out of the market.
The EU itself has been trying to undo this over the
past decades with rigorous vetting whether state
aid was not impeding competition.