EU publishes vital tech list amid worries over wider state aid use
sinonimas
Some EU officials and diplomats are concerned that a new list of critical technologies being introduced on Tuesday could be utilized as a back door to broaden the scope of state aid policies which mostly benefit larger member nations.
The European Commission, or EC, published a list of vital technologies on Tuesday that it plans to support and to protect from potential military use.
The move is part of a broader economic security framework which has seen the EU and its allies create plans to make sure that advanced technologies do not land in the wrong hands and reduce dependency on single suppliers like China.
Advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, or AI, quantum computing and biotechnologies are the four technologies that would be prioritized as the most sensitive, according to a previous report from Bloomberg.
The EU, along with member states, will carry out broad risk evaluations on these areas by the end of the year to decide on potential next steps, which could eventually include the future use of export controls and outbound investment screenings. There is no automatic or immediate use of any such tools.
The risk evaluation would also decide the extent of any vulnerabilities, and where to draw the line with each of the four technologies and their subsets
The broader list includes â advanced connectivity, navigation and digital technologies; advanced sensing tech; space and propulsion, which includes hypersonic; energy, including nuclear fusion; robotics; and advanced materials, manufacturing and recycling tech.
The EC was divided on the extent of the list, and some officials would have preferred a narrower scope at launch.
Listing additional technologies could be used as a path to enable companies operating in those industries to receive state aid. Such initiative would disrupt the single market, as it would benefit mainly large members, like France and Germany, over smaller members, which do not have the funds required to match the support.
Such move could also risk sending the wrong message to investors who may be concerned that the EU can one day curb these technologies and antagonize China, the report noted citing the sources.
The U.S. has already unveiled restrictions on China. The U.S. Commerce Department in September issued final rules linked to the CHIPS and Science Act which aim to restrict expansion in China by semiconductor companies which will receive federal funds. U.S. President Joe Biden had signed an executive order in August to regulate certain U.S. investments in China in three areas â semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and AI.
Last Week, China's international trade council formally requested the U.S. to "carefully consider" the regulations.

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