Wooing Intel, Italy plans $4.6 billion fund to boost chipmaking
-
Loading... - Stevens Harvey
- 02 Mar 2022
- 415 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Italy plans to set aside more than 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion) until 2030 to boost domestic chip manufacturing as it seeks to attract more investment from tech companies such as Intel, a draft decree seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday.
The government is trying to persuade the U.S. group to spend billions of euros on an advanced chipmaking plant in Italy that uses innovative technologies to weave full chips.
Rome is ready to offer Intel public money and other favourable terms to fund part of the overall investment, which is expected to be worth around 8 billion euros ($9 billion) over 10 years, Reuters reported in December.
To boost domestic chipmaking, Italy is also in talks with French-Italian STMicroelectronics , Taiwanese-controlled MEMC Electronic Materials Inc and Israeli Tower Semiconductor (TSEM.TA), which is set to be bought by Intel.
Negotiations with Intel are complex as the U.S. group has tabled very tough demands, a government source involved in the talks told Reuters.
To clinch a deal with Intel, Rome is also relying on new funding rules for innovative semiconductor facilities announced last month by the European Commission under so-called Chips Act.
Brussels has made available 15 billion euros in additional public and private investment by 2030, on top of 30 billion euros of public investments already planned from NextGenerationEU, Horizon Europe and national budgets.
Intel said in September it could invest as much as $95 billion in Europe over the next decade.
Under the plan, the U.S. group has chosen the east German city of Magdeburg as the site for a new multibillion-euro European chip factory, a person familiar with matter told Reuters on Feb. 26. Read More…
