Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japanese Minister for the Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), signed a cooperation protocol (MoC) in Tokyo on July 4 to strengthen their bilateral collaboration in semiconductors.
The agreement includes several components: early warning mechanism for the semiconductor supply chain; research and development ; advanced skills for the semiconductor industry; use cases of semiconductor applications and, finally, transparency of subsidies to the semiconductor sector.
In particular, the signatories intend to develop a joint early warning mechanism for the semiconductor supply chain, with a view to sharing information and cooperating to deal with supply chain disruptions.
Europe and Japan also intend to establish in-depth cooperation on research and development of key components for chip manufacturing and the next generation of semiconductor technologies, including joint approaches on alternatives to fluorinated chemicals, such as PFAS, given the importance of these components for semiconductor manufacturing. In order to continue cooperation in research and development, the participants intend to set up collaborative research programs, for which they will strive to find the best funding opportunities.
Europe and Japan recognize the importance of advanced semiconductors to enable a wide range of applications. They therefore intend to promote exchanges on creating use cases for advanced semiconductors through EU-Japan workshops.
Finally, Europe and Japan recognize that subsidy transparency is a key tool to level the playing field and therefore intend to share specific information on public support given to the semiconductor sector. They are going to put in place a common mechanism to mutually inform each other of this public aid, with a view to increasing transparency.
This article is originally published on vipress.net
