Germany is not only an automotive powerhouse, but also a semiconductor powerhouse. However, just by a budget crisis, the German chip ecosystem is already in danger of extinction!
At present, although the European economy is recovering slowly, Germany still dominates the global semiconductor industry. However, concerns about Germany have intensified. According to the Financial Times quoted by the global network earlier, since the German Federal Constitutional Court made a ruling, the German ** point out plan has become chaotic, and the outside world is growing about Germany's chip subsidy program.
The incident stemmed from November 15, when the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the German Confederation** had violated the German constitution by diverting an unused €60 billion anti-pandemic loan to climate and transition (KTF). As a result, on the evening of November 20, the German Ministry of Finance froze all fiscal spending for the next few years. This means that all the plans promised by Germany** earlier are nullified.
What needs to be known is that Germany is preparing to allocate 20 billion euros (about 155 billion yuan) to support the development of Germany's semiconductor industry. No one could have imagined such a dramatic change in this plan.
Handelsblatt said that the German chip ecosystem is threatened with extinction. Earlier, Germany attracted chip companies from all over the world to build factories with a subsidy commitment of 20 billion euros. But now, the 20 billion euros promised by Germany earlier will not be issued. Although German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also said that he absolutely hopes that the chip factory can be built as planned, it is very important that chips can be produced in Germany.
What needs to be known is that after Germany promised a 20 billion euro chip incentive plan, Intel released the news that it would spend 30 billion euros to build two factories in Magdeburg, a town in eastern Germany. For this reason, Germany** promised to subsidize Intel by 10 billion euros at that time.
In addition, chip companies such as TSMC, Bosch, and Infineon are also preparing to invest 10 billion euros to build factories, and the German Confederation** also promised to bear 5 billion euros at that time. ZF, a German auto parts manufacturer, has also joined forces with Wolfsemiconductor, which is preparing to jointly build an automotive chip factory in Saarland, Germany. Now all this has been suspended.
According to the Financial Times, a person familiar with TSMC revealed that if Germany really reduces subsidies, then TSMC will adjust the terms of the factory. In the worst-case scenario, if Germany** does not provide subsidies within 9 months, then TSMC will cancel the project plan.
Another chipmaker executive told the Financial Times that Germany is now not just the "sick man of Europe", it turns out that Germany is also a fool of Europe!
German economist Michel Huser said that the budget crisis means uncertainty for foreign companies such as Intel and TSMC, and Germany is now facing a "national crisis".
In fact, not only Germany, but also the whole of Europe is now facing a semiconductor crisis and wants to expand its own semiconductor industry chain. However, no one in Europe, which has been suffering for a long time, is unwilling to take a step first.
In fact, as early as the 90s of the last century, Europe once occupied 44% of the global chip market share, and it was completely possible to wrestle with the United States. However, the biggest mistake in Europe is that around 2005, in order to reduce labor costs and seek investment opportunities, European companies began to transfer the first chain to East Asia, and as a result, Europe's market share became smaller and smaller.
Now, Europe has no chance of cutting-edge chips, because more than 50% of Europe's wafer production capacity is 180nm and above, and Europe does not even have factories to produce chips below 22nm. However, now that the global market is shifting to cutting-edge chips below 5nm, Europe is seeing a shift in trend and is eager to get a part of the game.
According to EU statistics, Europe now accounts for less than 10% of the global semiconductor market, and European chips are now heavily dependent on the best suppliers in third countries. If there is another public health event, or if there is an escalation of geopolitical events, then the global ** chain may be interrupted, and then the European industrial sector will consume all the chips in a short time. At that time, European industry will come to a standstill in an instant.
In addition to the problem of money, in fact, there is also a shortage of talent in Europe.
According to statistics, by 2030, half of the jobs in the European semiconductor industry will be vacant, and 350,000 talents will be needed to double the market share of European chips. However, there are many talent vacancies in Europe that cannot be filled. Because German semiconductors are now short of 6With 20,000 talents, and 28% of electrical engineers and a third of engineering supervisors retiring in the next 10-12 years, the shortage of talent in Europe will become more and more serious.