May 21, 14:00-16:00 followed by a reception

Kilen, 2000 Frederiksberg, Ks48

 

Across the globe, industrial policy for the semiconductor industry is on the rise. This seminar examines the shift in EU industrial policy towards the semiconductor industry and explains why and how it came about. The European Chips Act (2023) combines the EU’s traditional industrial policy of public support for R&D with a new instrument: granting of public support for mass production. Based on findings from research interviews with representatives from EU institutions, member state governments, industry associations and companies, the speakers discuss how the semiconductor shortage associated with the Covid-19 pandemic and the changed geopolitical mindset in the EU created an external shock large enough to fundamentally change the European discourse on what kind of industrial policy is acceptable, and how different actors reacted to this external shock and made use of this discoursal opening.