France will allocate 2.9 billion euros for the construction of a chip factory

France will allocate 2.9 billion euros from the budget for the construction of a microchip plant manufactured by STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries. This was announced by the Minister of Finance of the country Bruno Le Maire, writes Reuters.

The allocated 2.9 billion euros is part of a total package of 5.5 billion euros that the country has allocated for investments in the microchip manufacturing sector until 2030, the minister specified. According to him, this investment is “significant and large-scale.”

In the fall of 2021, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, said that Europe is committed to increasing the share of chips in the global market to 20% by 2030. The agency notes that such investments in the industry are part of a common US and EU strategy to reduce dependence from Asian suppliers.

Last October, Washington passed the “Chips Act,” which imposes important export bans on advanced microchips and their manufacturing equipment to China. The White House is set to legislate to ban all American investment in high-tech Chinese companies, including developers of artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, 5G, and advanced semiconductors.

On April 18, the EU agreed on a €43bn plan for its semiconductor industry. Reuters noted that this is how the European Union plans to “catch up” with the US and Asia and “start a green industrial revolution.”