Thomas Skordas was speaking at a conference in Antwerp about the future of the initiative, which is Europe’s answer to similar programs in the United States and Japan and to China’s support for its domestic computer chip makers.

The European Chips Act has led to “promises for investments to the order of €100 billion to expand the manufacturing capacity within the EU by 2030,” Skordas said.

The European Union Chips Act, billed as offering funding of €43 billion, relies heavily on individual governments with the Commission so far approving very little actual funding.

However, firms including Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have announced plans to build plants in Germany at a cost of more than €30 billion this year.

Skordas, an official at the Commission’s digital unit, said the commission expects to finalize funding for R&D pilot lines in four sub-sectors of the chip industry by September, including a €2.5 billion grant for developing extremely advanced chips in Europe.

Skordas said unspecified funding for another pilot line to develop photonics, or chips that use light instead of electricity, is still in the works.

The Commission is also arranging funding for a European design platform to give companies, academics, and startups access to the software tools needed to design their own chips. Most advanced chipmakers design chips but leave the manufacturing to specialists such as TSMC, Samsung, or Intel.

“In July, we expect to open the call for the consortium that will be responsible for designing and developing this platform at the European level,” Skordas said.