(Reuters) – The European Union and Belgium’s Flemish regional government will jointly invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in Belgian chip technology company Imec, the Flemish government announced on Friday.
„We know that we will get our money back not only in the euro, but also in social dividends,” said Flemish Prime Minister Jan Zambon at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen and Prime Minister.Belgian Minister Alexander de Groove.
Von der Leyen, who visited Imec, emphasized the EU’s position to de-risk its chip supply chains.
While van der Leyen did not directly address China’s planned cuts to exports of strategic metals widely used in the semiconductor industry, he said the EU should reduce its reliance on „very few East Asian suppliers”.
Earlier this week, the European Union expressed concern over China’s plans.
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