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Thierry Breton, EU Internal Market Commissioner, gives a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Angel Garcia | bloomberg | Getty Images
The EU looks forward to cooperating more closely with Japan on key technologies such as artificial intelligence, said the EU industry chief, as the alliance looks to reduce its dependence on China in certain areas.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton told a meeting with the Japanese government on Monday, and artificial intelligence will be “his top priority,” he said in a Twitter video on Sunday.
“I will communicate with the Japanese (government) … about how we can organize our digital space, including artificial intelligence, on the basis of our shared value,” Breton said.
Breton also said there will be an EU-Japan Digital Partnership Council to discuss areas including quantum and high-performance computing. The European Union held a similar council with South Korea last week, in which the two sides agreed to cooperate on technologies such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Partnerships with key Asian countries with strong technology sectors come as the European Union looks to “de-risk” China — a different approach from that of the United States, which has sought to decouple its economy from Beijing.
Part of that EU strategy involves deepening the relationship with allied countries over technology.
Breton told Reuters on Monday that the bloc and Japan would cooperate in the field of semiconductors. Japan is a key country in the semiconductor supply chain, and Tokyo has been looking to boost its domestic industry. Last week, a Japanese government-backed fund proposed buying local chipmaker JSR for about 903.9 billion yen ($6.3 billion).
The EU is also looking to boost its semiconductor industry across the bloc.
Semiconductors are vital components that go into everything from cars to smartphones and have potential military applications. Countries around the world have been reassessing their supply chains, and some, like the United States, are looking to bring semiconductor manufacturing back home.
Semiconductors are also fundamental to training AI models. Artificial intelligence and chips are seen as two major areas of technology in the future, which countries are trying to position themselves to take advantage of.
At the same time, the United States in particular has sought to isolate China from critical technologies, such as semiconductors, through export restrictions, and Washington has looked to persuade European allies to join.
The Netherlands, home to one of the most important chip companies in the world ASMLLast week, it announced new export restrictions on advanced semiconductor equipment.
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