Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-002412/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Mathilde Androuët (PfE)
The latest report from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) paints a shocking picture of the Chips Act[1], a plan presented in 2022 as the EU’s flagship tool to achieve ‘technological sovereignty’[2]. It is an utter fiasco:
– completely unrealistic goals, including the goal to achieve a market share of 20 % for semiconductors by 2030, whereas the ECA is instead projecting a share of 11.7 %;
– non-existent coordination among Member States;
– persistent technological dependence on Asian imports[3];
– a concentration of investments among a few giant stakeholders, whereas the big projects that have been announced are frozen[4].
The Commission claims to defend ‘strategic autonomy’, but these observations challenge the relevance of its approach, founded on highly centralised initiatives that do not really fit with national industrial strategies.
- 1.Can the Commission indicate the measures it intends to take to address the shortcomings pointed out by the ECA, and how does it explain this structural failure?
- 2.Why did it favour Brussels-led coordination instead of support for coordinated, but sovereign industrial strategies?
- 3.Does the Commission plan to revise its approach to industrial policy in order to give control back to Member States over the tools, financing and strategic priorities necessary to build a semiconductor industry that is truly European?
Submitted: 16.6.2025
- [1] Special report 12/2025: The EU’s strategy for microchips, European Court of Auditors, 28 April 2025, https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/publications/SR-2025-12
- [2] European Chips Act, European Commission, https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-chips-act_en
- [3] ‘EU microchip strategy “deeply disconnected from reality”, say official auditors’, Lisa O’ Carrol, 28 April 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/28/eu-microchip-strategy-deeply-disconnected-from-reality-say-official-auditors
- [4] ‘“Disconnected from reality”, the Chips Act will not reach its goal, finds the European Court of Auditors’, Marion Garreau, 28 April 2025, https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/deconnecte-de-la-realite-le-chips-act-n-atteindra-pas-son-objectif-juge-la-cour-des-comptes-europeenne.N2231374