Europe eyes car chips as next battleground with China

Commission will start questioning its industry about competition with China and others on older-generation microchips.

Europe is widening its focus from high-tech to low-tech microchips as it fears a fresh challenge from Chinese subsidized firms to supply the electric vehicle boom.

The European Commission will start to question microchip suppliers and customers about legacy chips and whether there is a dependency on China supplies, it told POLITICO in a statement, with first results expected by the end of summer.

Officials fear a challenge to the bloc’s market power on so-called legacy microchips — older-generation technology used in cars, household appliances and medical devices. The move follows a similar one in the United States, where the government launched a survey on the topic in January.