by Supantha Mukherjee and Foo Yun Chee
STOCKHOLM, March 15 (Reuters) – Intel on Tuesday presented the first stage of its plan to invest in Europe totaling 80 billion euros over the next ten years, which includes plans to create a new research center & development (R&D) in France and a large semiconductor production site in Germany.
The American chipmaker plans to build its European R&D center around the Saclay plateau, south of Paris, by creating 1,000 high-tech jobs.
France will thus become Intel’s European headquarters for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) design capabilities.
Intel’s main factory will be based in Germany, in the small town of Magdeburg (in Saxony-Anhalt), where the American giant plans to build two factories, which will create 7,000 jobs in the construction sector and 3,000 permanent positions. within the company.
Intel will also strengthen its existing factory in Ireland and is working on the creation of a packaging and assembly site in Italy.
With an initial investment of 33 billion euros, including 17 billion dedicated solely to the future German factory, Intel intends to meet the growing demand for chips used in computers, automobiles and even smartphones, to reduce over the long term the region’s dependence on Asian suppliers and to alleviate the shortage of chip supply.
“The investments we are planning are a major step for both Intel and Europe (..) We are determined to play a vital role in shaping Europe’s digital future for decades to come,” said Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said in a statement.
The choice of sites comes after some European Union governments, including Italy, offered significant incentives to try to convince Intel to set up shop in their territory.
Intel will have to negotiate public aid with each European country where the group decides to establish itself, underlined the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, in front of journalists.
He also said the European Commission was talking with other chipmakers and hoped for more announcements in the coming months. (Report Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Jane Lanhee Lee in San Francisco; French version Laetitia Volga, edited by)