EIB supporting STMicroelectronics' semiconductor R&D activities

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing significant financial support to STMicroelectronics: a €600 million loan for the semiconductor group’s research and development (R&D) and pre-industrialisation activities in Europe.

The operation concerns investments in R&D activities for innovative technologies and components, as well as in pilot production lines for advanced semiconductors. These investments will be implemented in STMicroelectronics’ existing facilities in Italy (Agrate and Catania) and France (Crolles).

They will also contribute to the development of technologies and products to address the major challenges of environmental transition and digital transformation in all sectors.

“This new loan from the EIB, with which we have been working in partnership for many years, is complementing the various existing instruments supporting our industry, such as the important projects of common European interest and others that are currently being set up by the European Commission and the Member States,” said Jean-Marc Chéry, president and CEO of STMicroelectronics. “ST will contribute to the goal of 20% of global production in Europe by 2030 and will continue to develop and manufacture in Europe innovative technologies and products to support the environmental transition and the digital transformation of all industries.”

The global semiconductor market is currently worth more than €500 billion and is expected to double by 2030. Europe accounts for around 10% of world production capacity, a sharp decline compared with previous decades (24% in 2000 and 44% in 1990).

The EIB’s support for STMicroelectronics actively contributes to the policies put in place at European level in coordination with the Member States, in order to strengthen the semiconductor industry in Europe, in research and development, design, and production — and to bring public financing to strategic industrial projects.

The aim is to support the competitiveness of European players of this key sector, as it affects all industrial sectors, particularly those in which European manufacturers hold leadership positions.

“Semiconductors are the key components without which no digital and ecological transition is possible,” said EIB’s VVP, Gelsomina Vigliotti,. Thanks to the long-standing relationship between the EIB and ST, which has resulted in eight financing operations since 1994 worth more than €3,15 billion, the EIB supports Europe’s autonomy, competitiveness, and technological sovereignty.”