In February 2022, the European Commission presented the ‘Chips Act’, a vast public-private financing plan of €43 billion by 2030 to strengthen the European Union’s semiconductor production capacity. The aim is to reduce dependency on imports and strengthen European technological sovereignty.
In line with this ambition, on 25 May 2022 the Spanish government presented a €12.25 billion investment plan by 2027 in the semiconductor industry, separate from the Chips Act, but financed in large part by the EU’s post-Covid recovery packages.
“The aim is to develop the design and production capacities of the Spanish microelectronics and semiconductor industry in a comprehensive manner by covering the entire value chain, from chip design to chip manufacturing,” said the Spanish Minister for the Economy, Nadia Calviño.
The Spanish financing plan is broken down as follows:
- 9.3 billion to expand production capacity for advanced (sub-5nm) and mid-range (above 5nm) semiconductors;
- 1.1 billion for R&D;
- 1.3 billion for chip design; and
- 200 million to finance start-ups and scale-ups in the sector.
