Intel investment archive in Italy: “No active projects, focus on Germany and Poland”

“We build some of the largest factories in the world, producing the smallest things in the world.” In Davos Pat GelsigerCEO of Intel Corporation, evaluates the American giant's great plan to return to the world leader in microchip production. It is a plan that involves billions of dollars in investments in the United States and Europe, but does not include Italy. “At the moment there is nothing (no plans, unknown) Actively, we focus on factories in Germany and Poland.

It seems to be the last word on the hypothesis that was first put forward by Intel itself and then frozen, namely the presence of a large factory of the American giant in our country. In 2022, the American company, which was looking for sites for its new European factories, raised the possibility of building an advanced “back-end” factory in Italy, dedicated to microprocessor assembly and packaging. Discussions, including crucial government aid to support investment, began with the Draghi government and continued with the Meloni government, but as the months passed, the Italian factory appeared to have dropped the list of priorities for Intel, which would build a huge foundry in Germany, and at the same time also announced… Large testing facility in Poland. A year ago, Gelsiger himself said that discussions with the government were still ongoing, and that a decision would be made by the end of 2023. It now appears that the decision has been made: even if Gelsiger said, diplomatically, that “no country is being left out”, adding that 'Italy It is not among the list of projects that the company is currently implementing.

This announcement should not come as a surprise to the government. In recent weeks, the Ministry of Economic Development, the holder of the file, has repeated, somewhat submissively, that the Italian offer is on the table and that the ball is in Intel's court. As the months passed, and investments in other European countries were formalized, the possibility of the American company planting its flag in Italy gradually declined. But the fact that the project has now fallen off the radar still represents a setback for the Meloni government's “chip law”, a strategy to expand Italy's presence in the strategic semiconductor supply chain. In Italy, Intel will be among the companies that will participate in Chips.it, a semiconductor design center being established in Pavia. But its huge factories will be elsewhere.

The building in Germany, which will be built in Magdeburg, is in the planning stage. Intel says Berlin's budget problems, which also relate to the special fund to support industrial investments, will not raise questions about those allocated to the factory. The plan calls for construction to begin “within the year” after receiving the green light from Brussels to obtain state aid. “The goal is for the United States and Europe to become competitive with Asia again in chip production,” Gelsiger said.