Report Suggests German Government Prepping $22 Billion Aid Package for Native Chip Production

[T0@st]

According to a report published by Bloomberg, the German government has formed plans to create €20 billion ($22 billion) of investments to aid in the growth of local semiconductor manufacturing. The article proposes that the organization is racing to bolster the country's technology sector, and is attempting to secure essential supplies of components. Various geopolitical issues have complicated matters in recent times. Funding will be made available to German and international companies, from Germany's (now diversified) Climate and Transformation reserve, over the next four years. The finance ministry responded to Bloomberg's query, and stated: "The draft for the economic plan 2024 and the financial plan until 2027 for the Climate and Transformation Fund are currently being prepared...This process has not yet been completed." Germany's economy ministry did not provide a statement/response to Bloomberg's queries.

Around 75% of the fund is reportedly set aside for multinational semiconductor firms including Intel Corporation (USA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC). Bloomberg believes that Team Blue is due an allocation of €10 billion for investments in its new production facility, located close to Magdeburg, Germany. The government is allegedly deep into talks with TSMC regarding the foundation of a proposed €10 billion production base in the Dresden area—the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen AG would benefit greatly with quicker access to (localized) microcontrollers manufacturing facilities. The government could subsidize half of that total investment (€5 billion). Infineon is possibly in line to receive a €1 billion aid package, since it is building a new fab location in Dresden.



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[AnotherReader]

A lot of automotive demand is for old processes so they should be courting companies like UMC and Global Foundries.

 

[Denver]

Intel doesn't even make their own GPUs and the German government will give them money to build factories. I understand that this is just a political issue, but I would bet my chips on samsung and TSMC over intel;

 

[kondamin]

A lot of automotive demand is for old processes so they should be courting companies like UMC and Global Foundries.

View attachment 306103

It’s not for what it is today it’s for what it will be in a couple of years.

 

[AnotherReader]

It’s not for what it is today it’s for what it will be in a couple of years.

A lot of the automotive use cases don't need the latest processes, and that won't change.

 

[kondamin]

Intel doesn't even make their own GPUs and the German government will give them money to build factories. I understand that this is just a political issue, but I would bet my chips on samsung and TSMC over intel;

Tsmc has been In a rut that lasted a while too.
just like Samsung that was in a bit of hot water the last couple of nodes.

intel will end up fixing their problems and hopefully we will be able to enjoy a competitive market with sane prices

A lot of the automotive use cases don't need the latest processes, and that won't change.

Sure, but at some point it's no longer interesting to keep using old nodes on old 200mm machines.
if you are building a new fab for automotive parts might as well go to 300mm

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

It’s not for what it is today it’s for what it will be in a couple of years.

You dont need 14nm processors to run your window motors, or process your power seat changes. Only the camera systems, active safety, and arguably the infotainment systems need those higher end parts, and usually modern cars run all three on the same chip. .

 

[Denver]

Tsmc has been In a rut that lasted a while too.
just like Samsung that was in a bit of hot water the last couple of nodes.

intel will end up fixing their problems and hopefully we will be able to enjoy a competitive market with sane prices


Sure, but at some point it's no longer interesting to keep using old nodes on old 200mm machines.
if you are building a new fab for automotive parts might as well go to 300mm

Samsung had issues, but now it has a functional manufacturing process that is superior in every way to what Intel is using. TSMC, ditto.

I hope you're right, it would be a disaster if even intel starts relying on TSMC for making CPUs.

 

[phanbuey]

Samsung had issues, but now it has a functional manufacturing process that is superior in every way to what Intel is using. TSMC, ditto.

I hope you're right, it would be a disaster if even intel starts relying on TSMC for making CPUs.

I have a feeling that Intel the CPU maker and Intel the Foundry are already starting to split and will look very different soon. I think the US govt sees the Foundry as a national security issue, and is prepared to use the unsupervised runaway toilet that is our budget keep it afloat at any cost. I think that's part of the reason Intel Foundries is being favored by the German govt currently as well.

Intel the CPU maker, most likely stays in the private company "we have to make money" mode, and is going to use a combination of processes/foundries in the future, rumor is that in the near term TSMC is inevitable.

 

[R-T-B]

A lot of the automotive use cases don't need the latest processes, and that won't change.

What's latest vs dated will change though.

 

[AnotherReader]

What's latest vs dated will change though.

True, but some of those processes are over 2 decades old which is an eternity in semiconductor process development.

 

[uuee]

They should have bought out Globalfoundries instead ($34,62 billion) so we could have european semiconductors.