Italy and Germany are in pole position to host two big chip production plants of the American Intel company. A Reuters indiscretion reveals the Draghi government’s behind-the-scenes work to close a billion-euro deal that would make Italy an international semiconductor hub.
The government is said to be finalizing the details of a plan to convince Intel, the largest star and stripes chip maker, to invest “billions of euros” in a new plant in Italy, while Germany is in pole position to host “a megafactory yet largest “of the American company. The plant, reports Reuters, would have an estimated value of 4 billion euros. The final figure could be even higher, sources close to the dossier explain to Formiche.net.
There are two plans by Intel that today see Italy and Germany among the favorites to build the plants. The contacts between the German government and the American giant led by Pat Gelsinger are at an advanced stage to build a “megafactory” of chips. In all likelihood it should arise in the Dresden area, the beating heart of the European chip industry, home to other industry giants such as the German Infineon and the American Global Foundries.
Italy, on the other hand, aims to put its signature on an advanced “packaging” plant, a technology that Intel is using to attract new customers, such as Amazon’s Cloud computing unit, and which does not yet have a European plant. The Draghi government has been working on the success of the deal for months.
In July, the premier received Gelsinger at Palazzo Chigi, and a new visit awaited in the coming weeks. Giancarlo Giorgetti ‘s Mise is also weaving the canvas with the Silicon Valley giant : these days the minister is on a mission to the United States and the Intel dossier, his team confirms, would be on the table for the American trip. There are “at least four” Italian industrial sites that could be chosen for the Intel factory, Giorgetti said in early October.
Among these, said the owner of Via Molise, the historic Mirafiori plant in Turin would be “ideal”, but Catania is also in the running, where the construction of a microchip plant by the Italian-French company Stm is already planned. Palazzo Chigi aims to close the deal “by the end of the year,” and the plant could create 1,000 new jobs, explains Reuters. The two European plants are part of a massive plan of investment in Europe by Intel, which could amount to 80 billion euros over the next ten years.
With the pandemic and the shortening of global tech supply chains, the microchip industry has found itself at the center of an international dispute between China and the United States for control of major manufacturing sites, particularly in South East Asia. and in Taiwan, where the world’s leading company, Tsmc, is based.
Europe today is a secondary player in the semiconductor industry: it counts excellence in specialized sectors, such as the Dutch Asml, Infineon and Stm, but not companies capable of producing chips on a global scale. Speaking in the Chamber this week, Draghi called on the EU to “act now and decisively” to grow in the chip market and meet the set target of 20% of world production by 2030.
