EU wants to double chip production share by 2030

Despite being the world's largest trading bloc, the European Union is a dwarf in terms of technology. In a digital world that's increasingly dominated by US and China-based companies, the European Union is getting worried about its reliance on foreign semiconductors.

EU wants 2nm chip production

The new Digital Compass 2030 vision outlines a plan to double the EU's chip production by 2030, to 20 percent of the globe's output. The EU aims to set up advanced semiconductor production, the initial target is 5nm or smaller, with 2nm as the eventual goal.

Market watchers believe the EU will try to woe TSMC or Samsung to set up advanced foundry capacity on the European continent. That would be the quickest way to ensure Europe has advanced semiconductor production capacity by the year 2030. The plan also envisions access to Gigabit Internet for every European household by the year 2030. An overview can be found over here.

Secure, performant and sustainable digital infrastructures; By 2030, all EU households should have gigabit connectivity and all populated areas should be covered by 5G; the production of cutting-edge and sustainable semiconductors in Europe should be 20% of world production; 10,000 climate neutral highly secure edge nodes should be deployed in the EU; and Europe should have its first quantum computer.

Laptop battery prices soaring too

Lots of semiconductor chips have been in short supply for months but semiconductors aren't the only thing hit by shortages or higher prices. DigiTimes writes laptop battery makers are planning to raise prices by 10 to 15 percent. The price hike is the result of higher raw material costs.

Rising material prices are driving up production costs in many sectors, including notebook batteries. Vendors of notebook batteries are now mulling raising prices by 10-15%. ODM Pegatron expects its notebook shipments to decline in first-quarter 2021 as component shortages worsen. Pegatron has geared up efforts for the electric vehicle (EV) sector, but is taking a different path from Foxconn that has launched ambitious plans for EV development.