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| Italy wants to lure Intel via chip factories |
Rome is trying to persuade Intel to invest billions of euros in advanced chip manufacturing in Italy, and Germany has become the best candidate for a larger factory for the American company.
The plant is part of the American company's activities to develop advanced manufacturing capabilities in Europe to avoid future supply bottlenecks that currently severely affect the automotive industry.
Rome is negotiating a possible investment with the company, which, according to preliminary estimates, will exceed 4 billion euros (4.7 billion US dollars). According to Intel's plan, the amount may reach about 8 billion euros.
Rome appears willing to finance part of the total investment in general and to offer the company preferential terms, including labor and energy costs. The factory created more than 1,000 direct jobs in Italy.
The government is preparing a very detailed proposal. The goal is to reach an agreement before the end of the year. Talks with Intel have entered an advanced stage. But no agreement has yet been reached. If the government works hard in this area, it will probably send the factory back to Italy.
Possible locations are Mirafiori in Turin and Catania in Sicily, where Franco-Italian chip maker STMicroelectronics is active.
The American group's largest project in Europe is a large-scale plant project with Dresden as the first candidate site. Neither sign has made a final decision and plans may change in the coming weeks.
This Italian factory is an advanced packaging plant that uses new technologies to assemble all blister packs. Intel uses technology to attract new customers such as Amazon's cloud computing division. However, its only location is in the United States.
Italy wants to attract investment from Intel
France is also considered a competitor to large factories. Although Italy faces competition from Poland, the company also has a packaging plant in Poland.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said last month that the company plans to build two major new chip-making facilities in the European Union before the end of the year as it plans to invest 80 billion euros in continental Europe over the next decade.
The plans come as the European Union wants to reduce its dependence on semiconductor supplies from the United States and China. The flea supply crisis shows no signs of abating.
After the trend of working from home during the pandemic has increased the demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones and computers, chip makers are trying to ramp up production.
The shortage has hit the auto industry, the backbone of Europe's economy, and chip makers generally prefer consumer electronics customers because they buy more advanced and profitable chips.
The Italian prime minister said this week that the European Union urgently needed to take steps to increase production in order to meet its target of producing 20% of global semiconductor production by 2030.
However, it takes years to build mega factories and packaging plants. This is not likely to help European automakers in the short term.
To that end, the company plans to reserve the capacity of its chip plant in Ireland to car manufacturers. With their help move to the use of his technology. But it may also take some time.