Robert Habeck’s veto canceled the takeover of Siltronic by Globalwafers.
(Photo: Christophe LEPETIT / FOTOFINDER.COM )
Are semiconductors weapons? No, most will say. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has nevertheless prohibited the takeover of the Munich company Siltronic by the Taiwanese competitor Globalwafers.
Officially, it is said that there was not enough time to examine the deal. But there is much to suggest that Habeck would have opposed the takeover even if he had had more time.
The Munich-based company produces so-called wafers, i.e. the basic material for semiconductor chips. These are strategically the most important goods of the future.
A few years ago, the ban on takeovers would have been classified as a regulatory error. But times have changed. The Bundeskartellamt had not seen any harmful concentration of market power.
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Welfare economics teaches that the state only has to intervene if the actions of market participants result in a poorer outcome for everyone involved.
Limit free trade for national security
In times of globalization and the clash of different value systems, however, one thing is clear: welfare is not just defined by market results. It was Adam Smith of all people who, with the “invisible hand”, founded the model of liberalism that it can make sense to restrict free trade when national security is endangered.
This leads back to the question of whether semiconductors are weapons. Maybe not now, but they could be. Especially when China – which can be assumed – expands its zones of influence in Asia, where most chip manufacturers are located.
The power of Beijing has recently been demonstrated again in Lithuania by boycotting imports from there. And so the question of national security goes beyond the flow of knowledge abroad. It’s about security of supply.
>> Read here: Globalwafers boss is fighting for a billion-dollar takeover of Siltronic
International division of labor does not always create prosperity
However, the veto from Berlin is not enough. Siltronic is building its newest plant in Singapore. Here, too, the following applies, in this case according to the British economist David Ricardo: In principle, the international division of labor increases prosperity.
The efforts of Berlin and Brussels to set up their own chip productions with funding programs would stand in the way of this. But the Ricardo model has the limitation that subsidy-pampered economies of other countries – especially China – distort the model in such a way that welfare can also decrease.
So Berlin and Brussels have to make a fundamental decision: give up the industry or fight back with the same means. After all, it’s about long-term prosperity – which is very much in the spirit of Smith and Ricardo.
More: Takeover thriller about Siltronic: Habeck’s Ministry of Economic Affairs lets the deal burst