Intel Corporation has announced a major new investment in its European manufacturing sites, with a new €17 billion semiconductor mega site in Germany and a €12 billion expansion of its existing factory in Ireland.
The company is also building a new research, development and design center in France. It plans to invest in additional regions in Ireland, Italy, Poland and Spain for manufacturing and research.
Intel also plans to invest more than €33 billion in its initial wave of European R&D and manufacturing, as part of a total of €80 billion invested in the EU over the next decade.
The new German site consists of two semiconductor and microchip manufacturing plants in Magdeburg. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2023 ahead of planned production in 2027.
The site produces the next generation of Intel products from the Angstrom era (which includes the upcoming Intel 20A and Intel 18A nodes the company mentioned last year).
According to the company’s statements, the new site is also aimed at helping the company produce chips for its customers.
Intel says the Germany project sees 7,000 new jobs, along with 3,000 permanent jobs at Intel once production begins in a few years.
Intel distributes chip investments across six European countries
At the same time, the expansion into Ireland aims to double Intel’s manufacturing space at the company’s current site, and bring the next Intel 4 node to European manufacturing sites.
The European investment comes as part of the IDM 2.0 strategy that CEO Pat Gelsinger introduced when he took over the company a year ago.
The company has since announced a massive investment of $20 billion in its current locations in Arizona. It also announced a similarly large investment of $20 billion for the new Ohio site. The company claims that the new Ohio site represents the largest silicon manufacturing site on the planet.
Investment in manufacturing sites is an important topic for the silicon industry. The shortage of semiconductors continues to wreak havoc on supply chains. It also creates product availability and pricing issues for everything from consoles to cars.
And it’s not just Intel, as Samsung and TSMC have announced big plans for new chip production sites both internationally and in the US.
Manufacturing capabilities can help solve supply issues. But it will likely be some time before the impact of these new investments is felt. This is due to the long time it takes to set up new factories.
0 Comments