On 19 July 2021, the European Commission kick-starts two new Industrial Alliances: the Alliance for Processors and Semiconductor technologies, and the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud.
One goal
The two new alliances will advance the next generation of microchips and industrial cloud/edge computing technologies and provide the EU with the capabilities needed to strengthen its critical digital infrastructures, products and services. The alliances will bring together businesses, Member State representatives, academia, users, as well as research and technology organisations.
Background
In December 2020, a joint declaration on processors and semiconductor technologies was made by signatory Members States to reinforce the processor and semiconductor ecosystem and to expand industrial presence across the supply chain, in order to address key technological, security and societal challenges. Members States agreed to consolidate and build on Europe’s position in areas of proven expertise and aimed to establish advanced European chip design capabilities and production facilities progressing towards leading-edge nodes for data processing and connectivity. The updated declaration can been read here, including the 22 Member States signatories.
While presenting the new industrial strategy, Thierry Breton, Internal Market Commissioner, said on 5 May 2021, that “We need to have the capacity to anticipate and manage our dependencies”. He underlined that “We will continue to support industrial alliances with high innovation and job creation potential. These alliances help to accelerate activities that would not otherwise develop, and help to attract public and private investment. All this while laying the foundations for balanced international partnerships: openness yes, but on our terms. In this respect, we are launching the alliance on semiconductors, as well as the alliance on Cloud & Edge”.
On 21 May 2021, after a meeting at Dutch equipment supplier ASML, Breton, , said Europe would need to expand its manufacturing capacity of mid-level chips before it could achieve a goal of doubling Europe’s share of global semiconductor production to 20% and producing leading-edge 2-nanometer chips by 2030. Read the full news here.
Processors and Semiconductors Alliance
The Alliance will identify and address current bottlenecks, needs and dependencies across the industry. It will define technological roadmaps ensuring that Europe has the capacity to design and produce the most advanced chips while reducing its overall strategic dependencies.
Among other things, the Commission formulates the goal of being able to move Europe towards a production capacity of 16 nanometre (nm) to 10nm nodes to support Europe’s current needs while corresponding chips are mainly needed in Europe, for example by the automotive industry. In the medium term, 5 to 2 nm and below should be produced in order to anticipate future technology needs. The alliance is supposed to create the design and manufacturing capabilities required for the next-generation production.
The most advanced semiconductors are said to be more energy efficient while massively reducing energy consumption for example in mobile communications.
Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud
The European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud will foster the emergence of disruptive cloud and edge technologies that are highly secure, energy and resource-efficient and fully interoperable, fostering trust for cloud users across all sectors.
It will require the development and deployment of fundamentally new data processing technologies, encompassing the edge, moving away from fully centralised data processing infrastructure models.
For More Information, please read the following publications:
Industrial Alliance for Processors and Semiconductor Technologies
Joint declaration on processors and semiconductor technologies
European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and Cloud