EU Warns Its Chipmakers Could Lose Market Share in China
- China wants its carmakers to buy more chips from local firms
- European auto chip suppliers NXP, Infineon may feel impact
A 300 millimetre silicon wafer at Infineon Technologies chip factory in Villach, Austria.
Photographer: Akos Stiller/BloombergThe European Commission is raising concerns that its chipmakers are at risk of losing substantial market share in China as Beijing hikes investment in the semiconductor industry and tries to achieve self-sufficiency in critical technologies.
The Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors NV, Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG and Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. could all be hit by China’s efforts to foster domestic rivals, according to people familiar with the matter and a report from the European Commission seen by Bloomberg News. While the companies don’t make the industry’s most advanced semiconductors, like the processor used in Apple Inc.’s iPhone, they make microcontrollers and other chips essential for key sectors of the economy, including automobiles, industrial applications and consumer electronics.