Chip, Intel invests 58 billion in Germany, Israel and Poland – Corriere.it

the largest foreign investment in the history of our country. Within a week this sentence was pronounced by the heads of government of three different states: Poland, Israel and Germany. Everyone was referring to a commitment by Intel which in a few days has allocated around 58 billion to increase its semiconductor production capacity.

The mega-factories of Magdeburg

The latest to congratulate the US multinational was the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. In the city of Magdeburg, on the banks of the Elbe, two mega-factories of advanced chips will be built which will start production within four to five years and will employ tens of thousands of people. To build them, Intel has planned to spend more than 30 billion euros, doubling the initially planned outlay. In exchange, the Californian giant obtained almost 10 billion in subsidies from Berlin, eager to grab indispensable components for innovation. Today’s agreement is an important step forward in bringing high-tech manufacturing to Germany and making it more resilient, Scholz said, underlining the importance of Intel’s industrial plan for the European economy.

The European Chips Act

With the 43 billion Chips Act approved at the beginning of 2022, in fact, the EU has set the goal of doubling its semiconductor production capacity, bringing it to 20% of the world total. To this end, Brussels has exempted incentives for microprocessors from the ban on state aid. Governments with more fiscal space are taking advantage of this to promise generous contributions to American and Asian industry giants. The new plants in Germany add to the new 4.5 billion site communicated last week in Poland and the already operational plant in Ireland, underlined the CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, who in the past few hours also announced a maxi- investment of around 23 billion to modernize its factory in Israel. a certificate of great confidence in the country, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, taking the opportunity to curtail the protests for the reform of the judicial system which, according to opponents, are endangering the economic and social stability of the “Startup Nation”.

Intel’s plan

The investments in Poland, Israel and Germany are part of Intel’s long-term plan launched last year to catch up with Asian competitors and satisfy the global chip hunger. The rollout of the program was slowed down first by the increase in costs linked to inflation and then by the stagnation in demand for chips following the boom of the two-year pandemic. The first problem has been solved by the increase in public subsidies, the second by advances in artificial intelligence which have revived market confidence in the growth prospects of the microprocessor industry. According to initial indications, Italy should also have found a place in Intel’s map, which had applied to host a cutting-edge center for chip assembly and packaging. Appeared to be imminent several times, the investment – quantified at around 4.5 billion – has not yet been made official. The possible venue has not been identified, so Piedmont, Veneto and Sicily are competing.

The Italian knot

Intel has specified that the commitment in Poland does not affect the expansion in Italy and also the Ministry of Enterprise has ensured that talks continue for a presence in Italy of the company, recently met by Adolfo Urso during his trip to Washington . Of course, the commitments of recent weeks have reduced the space in Intel’s budget which had also allocated 80 billion for expansion in Europe. In the meantime, however, the government has also initiated contacts with Asian groups. Thus, in April, a delegation from Mimit went to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, countries where the world’s major chip manufacturers are headquartered, to illustrate the guidelines of the forthcoming national plan for microelectronics, expected by the end of the summer.