We talked extensively about the shortage of chips a few days ago. The situation is quite black and will not recover before 2022. The triggering causes are many and the remedies are there, but unfortunately they are all long and very long term solutions. Yesterday, second Reuters, the report of the German think tank Stiftung Neue Verantworthung (SNV) has argued that Europe's next steps in this direction are wrong. Let's see what it refers to in detail.
Europe's plans to address the chip shortage are flawed: we need to focus on development and not on building factories
Let's go in order. At the beginning of March we had addressed the issue of how theEuropean Union wants to fight the chip and microprocessor crisis. According to the agreement called Digital compass, it is expected that a share of microchips will be produced in Europe so that the countries that are part of it will not only be able to buy them at a lower price, but will also be able to break away from the Asian "grip" and US. This is certainly a good thing that would also allow a minimum of autonomy, but according to some analysts this is wrong.
The report's author Jan-Peter Kleinhans believes the new goal of EU leadership to double the share of global semiconductor production by 2030 is doomed to failure, because the bloc does not have a significant market for these products. In essence, the question is: if Europe is not already within the circuit, how he plans to sell them? The note is correct as it is not plausible that the EU manufactures them only to use "her" (ie companies within the Union).
But what is the weakness of the European strategy? Kleinhans states that, unlike the United States and Asia, theEurope does not have a significant chip design industry to justify the costs of setting up a mega factory.
"The volume available is simply not enough to fill the factory. This would mean that a company in the EU will have to attract foreign customers, which is highly unlikely"
Jan-Peter Kleinhans of Stiftung Neue Verantwortung
The leaders of the chip industry TSMC e Samsung they are already planning investments in the United States to serve giants like Qualcomm or Nvidia, who rely on contract manufacturers for their products.
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