EU ready to invest significant funds in chip sector
The European Union is ready to commit significant funds to expand European semiconductor manufacturing and support its computer chip supply chain, said Thierry Breton, Commissioners for internal markets. Breton said that Europe would need to expand its capacity in order to build mid-level chips before it could achieve a goal of doubling its share of global semiconductor production.
It has been reported that the EU was launching an alliance of European semiconductor companies to help meet those goals. Breton said the alliance would be comparable to plans by the U.S., China and South Korea to support their domestic chipmakers.
Breton hopes it will attract one of the big three global chipmakers, Taiwan Semiconductor, Samsung or Intel to build a cutting-edge plant in Europe. Funding could come from several EU programs, including its $1.26 trillion Coronavirus recovery fund, of which 20% is meant to be spent on the continent’s ‘digital transition’.
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10-minute grocery delivery coming to the U.S.
Gorillas, a German startup that provides grocery delivery in 10 minutes or less is launching in New York City on May 30th. The company will begin service in parts of Brooklyn and will expand to Manhattan in June. The startup plans to launch delivery in other major U.S. cities by the end of the summer.
Ultra-fast delivery has expanded rapidly across European cities in recent months, and the same model appears set to spread across the U.S. as well. Riding record-high demand for online grocery and billions in investor funding, startups such as Gorillas have quickly built out instant delivery services in Europe, touting delivery of groceries and convenience goods in 15 minutes or less.
Founded last year, Gorillas operators micro warehouses that serve a tight delivery radius and rely on a fleet of couriers riding electric bikes. The company reportedly plays hardcore techno music inside warehouses to keep the energy levels high among its riders.
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Supply chain risk in the UK falls due to Brexit and lockdown restrictions
According to Dun & Bradstreet, supply chain risk in the UK has fallen due to the UK avoiding a no-deal Brexit deal and the easing of lockdown restrictions. 46% of UK firms were still disrupted by the pandemic “in one way or another”, but that was down on “much higher figures” at the end of 2020, said Markus Kuger, chief economist at Dun & Bradstreet.
Listing risks the country faced, Kuger said in the first quarter of 2021 EU imports to the UK dropped by around 22% quarter-on-quarter, with exports to the EU falling 18%. “Some companies have decided it’s just not viable anymore to conduct trade between the EU and the UK.”
The UK faces underlying risk from “relatively poor infrastructure quality,” with road and air transport positioned 36th in a global competitiveness ranking, and rail 31st. “Over the medium to long run this is certainly something that will cause more supply chain disruption.”
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