Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Early in 2022, Intel announced amid a number of expansion plans that it would be building a new chipmaking factory in Magdeburg, Germany with around €7 billion in assistance from the German government. Now, Intel is reportedly asking the government to up its contribution to the state-of-the-art facility, said to already be forecasted to cost a staggering €17 billion. Sources close to the matter have reported that Intel has asked the government to increase contribution to around €10 billion.
Intel’s alleged request to the German government was recently reported by Reuters, though the plans to build its supposed chip mega fab facility in Germany date back to March 2022. Intel was already set to invest 17 billion euros into the project, with the German government covering around 6.8 billion euros of the cost (around $7.3 million USD). However, according to German business publication Handelsblatt, Intel claims that increasing energy costs and a desire to build the fab with newer technology than what was initially intended have increased the costs of building the facility. With that in mind, Intel reportedly asked for government investment to be increased from the original figure to around 10 billion euros.
Intel was not available to comment on the ask for an increase in government spending on its German chip fab project, but the company has been aggressively expanding with new facilities to attempt to meet high demands for chips and semiconductors worldwide. Intel has also increased its efforts in the United States where it has taken advantage of the recently passed CHIPs Act of 2022 to kick off a number of chip factory construction projects in the likes of Oregon and Ohio (though the latter has come up against delays).
It remains to be seen if Intel’s ask for further funding from the German government will go through. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.