The American microprocessor company Intel will receive from the German government up to €9.9 billion to support the chip factory that the consortium plans to open in the Saxon city of Magdeburg. In the negotiations, which have lasted for months, the executive of Olaf Scholz had committed to a financial injection of 6,800 million, much less than what Intel obtains, although in exchange for certain considerations.
The most relevant is that, instead of the 17,000 million initially planned, the amount of the investment will now amount to more than 30,000 million euros, according to one of the government representatives. Ultimately, this means that the relative share of financing has fallen: originally, the government would have provided 40% of the investment volume. Now it will be less than 33%.
Intel has also promised to use the latest chip technology possible. The next generation of so-called EUV systems from the Dutch manufacturer ASML will be used for this. The corresponding machines will cost several hundred million euros each and should be available from the middle of the decade. EUV stands for “extreme ultraviolet light,” which is used to expose semiconductors. The latest smartphones and computers are made with them.
The agreement, however, is once again a declaration of intent, according to government sources. Before the final decision on the grant can be issued, the Commission of the UE You should give the green light. “In theory, the subsidy amount can be withdrawn,” a government representative said. There have already been initial informal discussions with the EU Commission, but they are still “very vague”.
In particular, Finance Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and his officials had recently worked hard to make it possible to increase subsidies and convince Intel to set up shop in Saxony-Anhalt. Intel’s location in Magdeburg is of great importance for technological transformation and sovereignty, they said.