Spain to Invest €11 Billion in the Chip Sector

The Spanish government plans to invest €11 billion in the country’s chip industry. Their plan is in line with a wider European push around semiconductor development.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez unveiled the initiative and stated he wants Spain to be at the vanguard of industrial and technological progress and the project would be approved by his cabinet soon. Spain’s investment will mainly be financed through EU public relief funds, which have been made available to partly help the bloc recover from the effects of the pandemic.

Their plan follows a big recent push around the development of the chip industry in Europe. In February, the European Commission unveiled a multi-billion euro Chips Act that should bolster the bloc’s competitiveness in the sector: Intel recently presented plans to spend more than €33 billion on boosting manufacturing, the first phase of a wider €80 billion push. The EU has also detailed a goal to become a key global semiconductor maker, intending to produce a fifth of the world’s supply by 2030.