The EU Chips Act: better than nothing

Since Covid, Ukraine and especially Trump 2.0, we’ve been bombarded with advice about what Europe must do. Europe must become more competitive. Europe must reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Europe must build its own defense capabilities. Europe must become the world’s most attractive destination for scientific talent. All true. But when you hear the same calls over and over again and so little follows, they begin to lose their force. How many wake-up calls can a person endure before simply shrugging them off?

That feeling resurfaced when I read through the proposed new EU Chips Act from the European Commission. Sure, Europe would be better off with its own leading-edge logic and memory fabs. With chip design companies in the global top ten. And with major customers capable of absorbing advanced semiconductors at scale. Yet, I can’t help thinking that, once again, the effort will run aground on endless deliberations, watered-down compromises, inadequate budgets or poorly designed policy instruments.