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European Commission Official Foresees $100 Billion in Private Chip Investment by 2030

European Commission Official Foresees $100 Billion in Private Chip Investment by 2030

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The European Chips Act is poised to attract over 100 billion euros ($108.41 billion) in private investment to the European semiconductor industry by 2030, according to a European Commission official. Speaking at a conference on the future of the initiative in Antwerp on Wednesday, Thomas Skordas highlighted the Act’s significant potential to boost Europe’s chip manufacturing capacity.

European Commission Official Foresees $100 Billion in Private Chip Investment by 2030
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Promising Investment Landscape

Thomas Skordas, a senior official in the European Commission’s digital unit, detailed the impact of the European Chips Act during his speech. He noted that the Act has already spurred “promises for investments of the order of 100 billion euros to expand the manufacturing capacity within the EU by 2030.” The initiative is Europe’s strategic response to similar semiconductor support programs in the United States, Japan, and China.

Also Read: US Invests $120 Million in Chipmaker to Expand Facility in Minnesota

The European Chips Act, which offers funding of 43 billion euros, has faced some challenges in securing immediate financial support. Thus far, the Commission has approved only a limited amount of actual funding. Nonetheless, major industry players such as Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have announced substantial investments, including plans to build plants in Germany at a combined cost exceeding 30 billion euros this year alone.

Focus on Research and Development

In addition to expanding manufacturing capacity, the European Chips Act emphasizes research and development (R&D). Skordas announced that the Commission expects to finalize funding for R&D pilot lines in four key sub-sectors of the chip industry by September. This includes a significant 2.5 billion euro grant dedicated to developing extremely advanced chips within Europe.

Moreover, Skordas mentioned ongoing efforts to secure funding for a pilot line focused on photonics—chips that utilize light instead of electricity. This innovative approach could revolutionize chip technology and further strengthen Europe’s position in the global semiconductor market.

The European Commission is also working on establishing a European design platform. This platform aims to provide companies, academics, and startups with access to the essential software tools required to design their own chips. By July, the Commission plans to open a call for the consortium responsible for designing and developing this platform at the European level.

Also Read: EU Finalizes World’s First Major Law Governing Artificial Intelligence

“In July, we expect to open the call for the consortium that will be responsible for designing and developing this platform at the European level,” Skordas said, underscoring the Commission’s commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration within the European semiconductor industry.

As the European Chips Act continues to evolve, its ambitious targets and strategic initiatives are set to position Europe as a key player in the global semiconductor landscape, attracting substantial private investment and driving technological advancement.

European Commission

The European Commission Approves Microsoft’s $19.7 Billion Acquisition Of Nuance.

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Microsoft’s purchase of Nuance, an artificial intelligence company, received unconditional approval from the European Commission on Tuesday. In April, Microsoft paid $19.7 billion for the AI speech technology company Nuance. After LinkedIn, Nuance was the company’s second-largest acquisition under Nadella’s leadership. Microsoft hopes to expand its presence in the healthcare market with this new acquisition. This month, Reuters reported that the company was on its way to receiving approval in the European Union, in addition to approval in the United States and Australia.

According to the European Commission, the deal between Microsoft and Nuance will not cause any competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA). “According to the commission, Microsoft and Nuance provide very different products. While Nuance focuses on pre-built solutions for end-users, Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services includes application programming interfaces (API). This has no direct benefit for end-users, but it allows programmers to incorporate speech recognition into their respective programs,” according to the EU press release.

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Nuance is best known for its Dragon software, which uses deep learning to help with speech transcription. It has also been praised for its accuracy over time, owing to its ability to adapt to the user’s voice. This technology has been licensed by the company for a variety of services and applications, including Apple’s Siri. Microsoft may integrate Nuance’s technology into its existing software, such as Teams, or offer it as part of its Azure cloud service.

Microsoft said in a blog post that “by augmenting the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Nuance’s solutions, as well as the benefit of Nuance’s expertise and relationships with EHR system providers, Microsoft will be better able to empower healthcare providers through the power of ambient clinical intelligence and other Microsoft cloud services.”

The Commission concluded after conducting an investigation that the deal will not adversely affect competition in the markets for transcription software, cloud services, enterprise communications services, PC operating systems, and other products.
“On any of the markets examined in the European Economic Area, the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns,” the Commission stated. Nuance, based in the United States, serves 77 percent of US hospitals and was instrumental in the launch of Apple’s Siri virtual assistant.
Apart from healthcare, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions to companies all over the world, including Interactive Voice Response (IVR), virtual assistants, and digital and biometric solutions. Nuance’s special features will be integrated into Microsoft’s existing applications, such as Azure, Teams, and Dynamics 365.
The Commission stated that it had looked into issues such as the overlap between Microsoft and Nuance’s transcription software activities and discovered that they offered “very different products” that, when combined, would face strong competition from other players.
As more companies integrate AI into their products and services, tech companies have increased their acquisitions of AI-focused firms. The 19.7 billion deal between Microsoft and Nuance was unanimously approved by both Nuance and Microsoft’s boards of directors, according to the blog post.