EU Chips Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/1781)

Article 11 establishes a European network of competence centres in semiconductors. Member States designate one or more national competence centres with broad expertise across the semiconductor value chain to provide industry, academia and the public sector with services including access to pilot lines, prototyping, design tools, skills development and support to SMEs.

• Records of services received from or delivered through a national competence centre (training / design-tool access / pilot-line collaboration)

Article 12 sets the implementation arrangements for the Initiative: the Commission may delegate parts of the Initiative to the Chips Joint Undertaking, may award grants and prizes, and reports to the European Parliament and the Council on progress.

• Engagement records with the Chips Joint Undertaking where the entity participates in Initiative activities

Article 3 establishes the Chips for Europe Initiative supporting large-scale capacity building in the Union for advanced semiconductor technologies. Article 4 lists the Initiative's specific objectives: build advanced design capacity for integrated semiconductor technologies; enhance existing and develop new pilot lines; build advanced technology and engineering capacities for quantum chips; create a network of competence centres across the Union; create a Chips Fund to facilitate access to debt financing and equity by start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs.

• Documented engagement of the entity with the Initiative (consortium / call / pilot-line participation / competence-centre association)

Article 5 sets the five lines of action of the Initiative: (a) build large-scale design platform for integrated semiconductor technologies; (b) enhance existing and develop new pilot lines; (c) build advanced packaging, test and assembly capacities; (d) build advanced engineering capacities for quantum semiconductor design; (e) develop skills, talent and capacity of the qualified workforce. Article 6 ensures implementation in synergy with Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, the European Defence Fund, EU4Health, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and Member-State programmes.

• Documentation of the entity's participation in pilot lines / design platform / packaging / quantum design / skills lines
• Cross-programme funding alignment records (Horizon Europe + Digital Europe + national funding)

Articles 7-10 establish the ECIC as a new EU legal entity for cross-border cooperation on semiconductor R&D and infrastructure. Article 7 covers establishment criteria, statutes, voting and contribution rules. Article 8 governs ECIC liability. Article 9 governs applicable law and jurisdiction. Article 10 governs winding-up procedures.

• Records of the entity's status as an ECIC member or hosted entity (statutes / consortium agreement / contribution records)

• Participation in ECIC activities without a formal membership / contribution record

Article 32 imposes professional-secrecy obligations on the Commission, the ESB, the national competent authorities and any natural or legal persons involved, with carve-outs for cooperation with EU institutions and Member-State authorities. Article 33 sets penalties for breaches of Articles 25 (information gathering) and 26 (priority-rated orders) by undertakings, including fines for false/incomplete information or refusal. Articles 34-35 set limitation periods for the imposition and enforcement of penalties (3 years and 5 years respectively). Article 36 ensures the right to be heard before a penalty decision.

• Internal escalation procedure to receive and respond to Article 25/26 requests without triggering Article 33 penalties
• Compliance file demonstrating accuracy of information submitted to the Commission

• Late / refused / inaccurate responses to Article 25 information requests
• Refusal of an Article 26 priority-rated order without an Article 26(3)-(5) exemption ground

Article 37 governs the exercise of the delegation of power (to amend annexes, monitoring indicators etc.) to the Commission. Article 38 sets the committee procedure. Article 39 amends Regulation (EU) 2021/694 (Digital Europe Programme) to add a new Specific Objective 6 covering advanced semiconductor capabilities. Article 40 requires the Commission to evaluate and report on the Regulation by 20 September 2026 and every four years thereafter. Article 41 provides that the Regulation entered into force on 21 September 2023, with certain provisions applying progressively.

• Compliance calendar reflecting the Article 41 staged application + the Article 40 evaluation cycle

Article 23 sets the procedure for activating the semiconductor crisis stage. The Commission, on its own initiative or on a request from at least two Member States, and after consulting the ESB, adopts an implementing act activating the crisis stage where there is a serious disruption to the supply of semiconductors or the related ecosystem, and where the disruption is likely to have a substantial negative impact on key sectors of the Union economy or on Union security. The activation specifies the products and Member States concerned and the duration (renewable).

• Crisis-stage continuity plan for the entity's semiconductor supply (key suppliers, alternative sources, escalation paths)
• Records of any Article 23 crisis activation period affecting the entity

• No crisis-stage continuity plan despite operating in a key sector served by semiconductors

Article 24 sets the emergency toolbox available to the Commission once the crisis stage is activated: (a) information gathering (Article 25), (b) priority-rated orders (Article 26), (c) common purchasing (Article 27). The Commission consults the ESB before using these tools and ensures they are necessary and proportionate.

• Internal procedure for receiving and responding to Article 25 information requests / Article 26 priority-rated orders / Article 27 common-purchasing invitations during a crisis stage

• No internal procedure for crisis-stage toolbox response

Article 25 empowers the Commission, during the crisis stage, to request information from key market actors about production capacity, inventories, expected shortfalls, supply commitments, customer base, allocation plans and crisis-mitigation measures. The information requests must be necessary and proportionate. Article 25(5)-(6) provide confidentiality safeguards. Refusal or false information triggers Article 33 penalties.

• Data inventory (capacity / inventories / shortfalls / supply commitments) ready to be supplied under Article 25 within the timeframe
• Confidentiality-protection submissions where the response contains trade secrets

• No preparedness for Article 25 information-gathering deadlines
• Trade-secret material disclosed without confidentiality requests

Article 26 empowers the Commission, after consulting the ESB and where strictly necessary in the crisis stage, to require IPFs/OEFs (and undertakings whose Member State has accepted) to accept and prioritise an order of crisis-relevant products on terms specified by the Commission. The undertaking must accept and prioritise the order unless prioritising would conflict with public-policy or security obligations or where there are exceptional grounds (Article 26(3)-(5)). Priority-rated orders override conflicting private contractual obligations to the extent set in Article 26(6).

• Contractual standard terms including the Article 26 priority-rated-order possibility (where the entity is an IPF/OEF)
• Internal allocation procedure to discharge an Article 26 order without exposing customer contracts to systemic breach risk

• IPF/OEF contracts that do not anticipate Article 26 priority-rated orders
• No internal allocation procedure for an Article 26 invocation

Article 27 enables the Commission, on its own initiative or at the request of two or more Member States, to act as a central purchasing body on behalf of Member States for the procurement of crisis-relevant products during the crisis stage. The procurement is governed by the Financial Regulation. Participating Member States contract directly with the selected suppliers.

• Engagement with Article 27 common-purchasing exercises where the entity is a supplier candidate or a participating-Member-State buyer

Article 1 establishes a framework of measures to strengthen the Union semiconductor ecosystem with the objectives of attracting investment, securing the resilience of the supply chain, addressing skills shortages, expanding the qualified workforce, and ensuring the Union has the capacity to address future supply crises in semiconductors. The Regulation operates alongside Union programmes (incl. Horizon Europe, Digital Europe) and Member-State support.

• Internal mapping of the entity's semiconductor activities to the Chips Act objectives (investment / resilience / skills / crisis preparedness)

• Treating the Chips Act as a pure subsidy programme - it also creates monitoring, crisis-response and supply obligations

Article 2 supplies the definitions used throughout the Regulation, including: 'semiconductor', 'semiconductor sector', 'integrated production facility', 'open EU foundry', 'first-of-a-kind facility', 'design centre of excellence', 'critical sector' (the demand sectors served by semiconductors), 'crisis-relevant product', 'European Chips Infrastructure Consortium (ECIC)' and 'semiconductor supply chain'.

• Definitions glossary aligning the entity's internal terminology to Article 2 (in particular 'first-of-a-kind facility', 'crisis-relevant product', 'critical sector')

• Application of Chips Act categories to facilities/products without confirming the Article 2 definitional fit

Article 28 establishes the European Semiconductor Board (ESB) composed of Member State and Commission representatives, with tasks including providing the Commission with strategic advice, opinions on IPF/OEF applications, opinions on the activation of the crisis stage and the use of the emergency toolbox, and coordination of the national competent authorities. Articles 29-30 govern the structure (Chair, sub-groups, observers) and operation (rules of procedure, voting, expert groups).

• Records of any ESB consultation involving the entity (industry sub-group, opinion on IPF/OEF application, ESB-coordinated information sharing)

Article 31 requires each Member State to designate one or more national competent authorities for the application of the Regulation and a single point of contact for cross-border and Commission-level coordination. The single point of contact handles Article 20 monitoring information flows, Article 22 alerts, Article 25 information-gathering requests directed at undertakings in its territory, and Article 26 priority-rated-order communications.

• Identification of the relevant national competent authority and single point of contact for each Member State where the entity operates

• Engagement only with general industry-policy bodies instead of the Article 31 national competent authority

Article 19 requires the Commission, in cooperation with the ESB and Member States, to perform a Union-wide strategic mapping of the semiconductor sector. The mapping identifies: capacities, capabilities and dependencies; the structure of the value chain; the position of Union production globally; risk factors (single points of failure, geographic concentration, scarce raw materials, third-country dependencies); and skills/talent indicators. The mapping is updated periodically.

• Contributions to the Article 19 strategic mapping where the entity provides data to the Commission/Member State
• Internal supply-chain mapping for the entity's semiconductor inputs/outputs aligned with the Article 19 categories

• No internal supply-chain map
• Contribution to Article 19 with stale or incomplete data

Article 20 establishes an EU-level early-warning system for the semiconductor supply chain. Member States and the Commission monitor early-warning indicators (Article 20(2)): supply-demand mismatches; substitution capacity; lead times; price; raw-material availability; geopolitical risk; cybersecurity incidents. Article 20(3) requires Member States to share information promptly through the single points of contact (Article 31).

• Internal early-warning dashboard mirroring the Article 20(2) indicators
• Records of information shared via the single point of contact

• No internal early-warning monitoring despite operating in a critical-sector semiconductor supply chain

Article 21 obliges Member States, in cooperation with the Commission, to identify the key market actors in the semiconductor value chain established in their territory and to maintain an up-to-date list. Key market actors include manufacturers, integrators, distributors, design houses, equipment suppliers and end-users in critical sectors. Key market actors are subject to the Article 25 information-gathering powers when the crisis stage is activated.

• Records confirming the entity's classification as a key market actor (where designated)
• Internal preparedness for Article 25 information-gathering

• Operating in a critical part of the semiconductor value chain without engagement with the national competent authority on key-market-actor classification

Article 22 empowers Member States, on the basis of Article 20 indicators, to alert the Commission. The Commission consults the ESB; preventive action (recommendations, voluntary measures by industry, increased information sharing) may be taken before the crisis stage is activated.

• Records of any Article 22 alerts received or contributed to
• Preventive-action implementation records (voluntary measures, recommendations)

Article 13 establishes the 'Integrated Production Facility' (IPF) status. An IPF is a first-of-a-kind manufacturing facility in the Union for the design, manufacturing, packaging, test or assembly of semiconductors, that brings innovation to the Union, contributes to security of supply, supplies the EU internal market on a non-discriminatory basis, and meets the eligibility conditions in Article 13(1)(a)-(f). IPFs may benefit from the Article 16 public-interest declaration, Article 18 fast-tracked permits, and Article 28(4)(a)-(b) priority orders.

• Application records under Article 15 for IPF status
• First-of-a-kind / innovation evidence
• Non-discriminatory supply commitments to the EU internal market

• Investment described as 'IPF' without the formal Article 15 application + Commission decision
• First-of-a-kind claim that is not substantiated against the Article 13(1)(b) criteria

Article 14 establishes the 'Open EU Foundry' (OEF) status. An OEF is a first-of-a-kind manufacturing facility in the Union for design, manufacturing, packaging, test or assembly of semiconductors that produces, to a significant extent, semiconductors for unrelated undertakings, brings innovation to the Union, contributes to security of supply, and meets the Article 14(1)(a)-(f) eligibility conditions. OEFs may benefit from the same Article 16/18/28 prerogatives as IPFs.

• Article 15 application records for OEF status
• Documented unrelated-customer share of OEF capacity (the open-foundry test)

• OEF claim not substantiated by an unrelated-customer share
• No application to Article 16 public-interest declaration despite OEF eligibility

Article 15 sets the application procedure. An undertaking applies to the Commission, which assesses the application within 9 months (extendable) and may consult the ESB. The decision recognises the facility as an IPF or OEF, may impose conditions, and is reviewed periodically.

• Application file (business plan + first-of-a-kind dossier + supply commitments + technology roadmap)
• ESB consultation records where applicable

• Operating as IPF/OEF on the basis of public announcements rather than the Article 15 Commission decision

Article 16 enables Member States to apply support measures and to apply administrative facilitations to IPFs/OEFs. Member States may consider IPFs/OEFs to be of overriding public interest (Article 16(1)) and may grant aid (Article 16(2)) compatible with the internal market under the conditions set by the Commission (in particular State Aid framework + GBER). Article 16(3) requires beneficiaries to maintain the supply commitments and to operate the facility in the Union for a minimum lifetime.

• State-aid decisions / GBER notifications related to the entity's IPF/OEF
• Supply-commitment monitoring records demonstrating the post-award conditions are maintained

• Breach of post-award supply commitments without Commission notification
• Aid received without a notified state-aid decision

Article 17 establishes the 'Design Centres of Excellence' programme to enhance the Union's design capacity in semiconductors. Designated centres collaborate with the network of competence centres, provide design services to SMEs, and develop talent.

• Records of the entity's status as or engagement with an Article 17 design centre

Article 18 requires Member States to ensure that permit-granting procedures for the planning, construction and operation of IPFs and OEFs are treated as a matter of overriding public interest, with the most rapid administrative procedure possible, fast-tracked, and (without prejudice to specific environmental impact assessment obligations) prioritised over other ongoing administrative procedures.

• Fast-track permit-procedure records where the entity is the IPF/OEF developer
• Environmental impact assessment records demonstrating EIA obligations are met within the fast-tracked process

• Fast-track invoked but EIA obligations not properly discharged