Heinz Kundert, CEO of SEMI Europe, has written to semiconductor industry CEOs and EC officials asking for their views on how the EC might most efficiently help the industry.
Kundert identifies three areas:
1. European Funding for Cross-Border R&D Cooperation between European centres of excellence. “The present funding rules based on a European “topping up” principle, induce inefficiencies and should be reconsidered.”
2. Large Scale Production must be supported by loan guarantees, co-financed by national and European authorities, to transfer Europe’s superior R&D into marketable products.
3. A level playing field for European companies compared to other regions. “Today, advanced manufacturing plants for semiconductor and photovoltaic manufacturing are funded by many overseas governments leaving European companies behind,” says Kundert, “the competitive advantage of manufacturing overseas comes from items such as utility costs that in most European countries are several times higher than in the US and most Asian countries due to taxes and government-ruled fees.”
However Kundert’s main contention is that other countries’ governments are more aggressive in their funding and incentives for their semiconductor industries, and the European authorities should at least match the level of assistance being deployed by other national authorities.