Intel to Build New Semiconductor Megafactory in Magdeburg, Germany, as part of its very ambitious investment plan in Europe. The American company has announced that it will allocate 17 billion euros to build state-of-the-art facilities in the Teutonic territory, and will simultaneously expand its investments and presence in other countries in the region.
In addition to the new German factory, Intel will open a design and research and development center in France. While Spain, Ireland, Italy and Poland will also benefit, some of this money will be used to develop their infrastructure dedicated to chip manufacturing, foundry services and R&D.
In this first phase of its plan, the North American firm offers invest more than 33 billion euros. Will the money allocated to the new mega-factory in Germany be supplemented by a disbursement of 12 billion euros to expand its existing facilities in Leixlip, Ireland. And the possibility of opening another factory in Italy is also being negotiated, although it is not known how far this process is; if it materialized, an additional 4,500 million euros would be poured into European territory.
It should be noted that this is all part of the project made official by Intel in September of last year, and with which it intends invest 80 billion euros throughout this decade to strengthen its presence in Europe and reduce its dependence on the Asian supply chain. “Our planned investments are a significant milestone for both Intel and Europe. This broad initiative will drive R&D innovation in Europe and bring advanced manufacturing to the region for the benefit of our customers and partners around the world,” said Pat Gelsinger, the company’s CEO.
Intel takes the first step of its long-term European project
One important thing to consider is that Intel’s investment in Europe will not have an immediate impact on the semiconductor industry. The mega-factory in Germany will consist of two facilities which the company says will be the first of their kind. Their construction should begin in 2023, with a view to start production there in 2027; for this, they are waiting for the approval of the European Commission.
In the case of hub of design and research and development, the projection is that it will be fully operational in 2024. While the hypothetical factory in Italy would start operating “between 2025 and 2027”, according to Intel itself.
So the Americans they are not intended to appease the current flea shortage, but it will seek to prevent new episodes of this type in the future. It’s a very similar stance to that taken by Sony and TSMC when they joined forces to establish a new factory in Japan, which will be operational from late 2024.
In the case of Intel, it will also be interesting to see what role Tower Semiconductor will play in bringing this million dollar investment plan to fruition. Recall that those led by Gelsinger recently shelled out $5 billion for the aforementioned Israeli company, which, although it may seem unknown to many, has nearly 30 years of experience in the industry.
What are the projects in Spain?
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, Intel also intends to deepen its presence in Spain. The company ratified its alliance with the National Supercomputing Center, and they plan to establish new laboratories together in Barcelona. Just as at the time they were working on the development of an exascale architecture for supercomputers, they are now aiming for the zettascale. The results should be seen “for the next decade”, as stated.
