Sunday, June 12th 2022
Germany to Give Intel €6.8 Billion Towards Magdeburg Fab
German media is reporting that Intel will be receiving some €6.8 billion in subsidies for its planned Magdeburg fab. Some €2.7 billion has already been set aside for the 2022 federal government budget and the remaining money will be allocated in the 2023 and 2024 budgets. The Magdeburg member of the Bundestag, Martin Kröber, who announced the budget allocation to the local media, said that Intel's establishment in Magdeburg should be a boost for the entire Saxony-Anhalt area.
Intel's total investment in Magdeburg has a budget in excess of €33 billion, which means that the German government is pitching around a fifth of the total investment. That said, the first fab will only end up somewhere around the €17 billion mark, with space for a further two fabs on the location Intel has selected. Production at the new fab is estimated to begin sometime in 2027. In related news, TSMC is said to have decided on skipping Europe for the time being, largely due to lack of local customers, according to Reuters.
Sources:
Frie Press, Reuters, via The Register
Intel's total investment in Magdeburg has a budget in excess of €33 billion, which means that the German government is pitching around a fifth of the total investment. That said, the first fab will only end up somewhere around the €17 billion mark, with space for a further two fabs on the location Intel has selected. Production at the new fab is estimated to begin sometime in 2027. In related news, TSMC is said to have decided on skipping Europe for the time being, largely due to lack of local customers, according to Reuters.
63 Comments on Germany to Give Intel €6.8 Billion Towards Magdeburg Fab
Countries can fund R&D through their national lab and university system and license discoveries to private industries but they shouldn’t be funding the building of their ‘regular’ stores, office buildings, R&D facilities and factories.
A few exceptions could be made for ‘public’ manufacturing that offers services to multiple entities without favoritism and even that is a slippery slope.
A lot of game publishers do this as well. Governments will give them tax rebates. But these publishers can also apply for government grants or tax benefits based on the amount of staff they have working at said business - CEOs and executive's pocket most of what the government gives them and pays their staff the smallest amount they can get away with out of the scheme.
so another ten billion here and there to help national security chip production... pennies in the pool really.
Intel would not be Intel if they followed those principles. They much rather pay the pocket change fines than play by puny government laws. Same goes for FB/Meta or Google, Apple etc
Let's not flame but you know its all true!
People just hate Intel with a passion don't they.
If this was a AMD plant i bet there would not be half as much whining Wow the only sane person in this thread. Well done.
And yeah, the government investing in a particular foreign corporation's business is anti-competitive and the EU anti-trust should be called.
Neighbours do neighbours, you can't control them.
Hope they also subsidize the pharma industry to get production of vital meds back in town. During the pandemic we were running dry for some meds, and that was "only" a pandemic. Would turn out very bad for some folks if you run out of insuline, blood pressure or cancer meds. Also production over there is not always as clean as it should be.
If chips are essential to modern and future society, and Taiwan may come under attack, then governments worldwide have to have a vested interest in lowering their dependence on chips sourced from Taiwan. I have nothing against Taiwan, but if china seizes it, that could spell doom for many in the west. Nvidia, amd, apple, Qualcomm. Even intel, as some of its meteor lake tiles will be built on TSMC. Intel ARC is also built on TSMC. Not good. Also, intel will create jobs in the local economy, and that is good for Germany and for America. So it’s an investment into their future. Chip making is unique because of the extremely high capital costs involved. Most other industries don’t require an insane 10s of billions of dollars to start up a manufacturing plant.
Honestly there are much worse ways tax breaks are employed, and I feel most of the protest in the end comes down to... brand loyalty, again. :rolleyes:
And that means that intel is not needed because there are other companies that can manufacture such chips.
The nanometer race in semiconductors is only because of race for higher and more profits, not that the given industry needs it.
Come on, man! :laugh:
The poor and middle class are paying for a lot more government programs. Often times the citizens at these income levels can barely take advantage of high education jobs created much less afford the products that fabs make.
Can at least some of you reasonably conclude that we need to collect a lot more money from rich corporations and rich individuals if they are gonna take government subsidies? And if you don’t want them paying more taxes and the jobs created dont help the bottom incomes, then you must conclude that they shouldn’t get government help.
What’s the point of strong domestic and secure production if only a rich few benefit? I really dont remember reading about millions and millions becoming high wage earners in China when the world’s production shifted to that country. In fact, I think all that production made China worse!
like one thing is giving an incentive but another thing is 7 billion lol
- does the German government pour the same amounts of cash into GLOBALFOUNDRIES?
- did intel win a fair competition with other plants for this specific subsidy?
- is the EU informed and is it legal?
China is a world player because of their ability to look ahead and take advantage of the Wests insatiable appetite for cheap labor and goods. They've done quite well for themselves. Their economic and cultural systems are far more at the core of wealth distribution than anything else. As to the average citizens feelings of economic health today vs. prior to their economic boom? I doubt many modern citizens would complain. China was essentially a 3rd world country during the hardline years