SEMI applauds European Economic Security Strategy

The European Commission designed the European Economic Security Strategy to protect the European Union’s economic security and reinforce the resilience of its economy by investing in the region’s competitiveness, diversifying its supply chains, and minimising the risks of economic interdependencies.

The strategy was initially announced in June 2023 in response to the pandemic and the rise in geopolitical tensions after they revealed vulnerabilities in the economies of its 27 member states. It seeks to identify and assess the risks to the EU’s economic security and develop new tools for their mitigation, with a strong focus on advanced semiconductors as a critical technology area identified by the European Commission.

“The semiconductor industry depends on a high level of cross-border investments and international cooperation as its supply chain is extremely specialised and fragmented with thousands of industrial players globally,” said Laith Altimime, President of SEMI Europe. “The European Economic Security Strategy should provide a path to economic security with government incentives and other support that place equal emphasis on its three guiding principles of Protection, Promotion and Partnership.”

The initiatives proposed today by the European Commission are the following:

• Proposal for a new regulation on the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI)
• White paper on export controls
• White paper on outbound investment
• Proposal for a European Council recommendation on research security
• White paper for enhancing support for research and development involving technologies with dual-use potential

SEMI Europe will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to contribute to the political debate and encourage a legislative framework that can enhance economic security across industrial supply chains while preserving Europe’s technological competitive advantage. SEMI will share an in-depth perspective in the position paper SEMI Europe Priorities on the European Economic Security Strategy scheduled to be published by mid-February 2024.