The German government is preparing billions of euros of new investments into the nation’s semiconductor industry, two months after Intel Corp shelved plans to build a 30 billion euro (US$31.6 billion) chip factory in Magdeburg, Germany.
The new funds would be provided to chip companies to develop “modern production capacities that significantly exceed the current state of the art,” Annika Einhorn, a spokesperson from the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said in a statement on Thursday.
The subsidies are expected to total about 2 billion euros, said two people who attended an official event about the funding plans this week and speaking on condition of anonymity.
Photo: Bloomberg
The sum would be in the “low single-digit billion euro range,” a spokesperson for the ministry said in response to a query from Bloomberg News, declining to be more specific.
The ministry had published a call for chips companies to apply for new subsidies earlier this month, although the final figures are still in flux. A new government is set to be elected in February and would likely plan its own budget, leaving uncertainty for the chip companies now applying for the subsidies.
Governments around the world have been investing public funds in the chip industry as part of an effort to localize production of components that control everything from cutting-edge artificial intelligence to everyday gadgets. The push comes after COVID-19 pandemic era supply disruptions and as rising tensions between the US and China over Taiwan could interfere with a key source of the essential technology.
The European Chips Act, passed last year, aims to strengthen the bloc’s semiconductor ecosystem and double its market share to 20 percent of global production capacity by 2030.
Germany’s chip sector has faced two major setbacks. Intel’s 30 billion euro chip factory in Magedeburg was on track to be the biggest project supported under the EU’s Chips Act with 10 billion euros in subsidies, but the troubled US company postponed its plans in September.
Wolfspeed Inc. and ZF Friedrichshafen AG also withdrew a planned chips venture in western Germany.
The first rounds of German subsidies under the EU’s Chips Act were granted to Intel and a joint venture between Infineon and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Dresden, Germany.
Germany’s economic ministry wants to use the newly proposed funds to subsidize 10 to 15 projects across a range of fields, including the production of raw wafers and the assembly of microchips.
“The funded projects should contribute to a strong and sustainable microelectronics ecosystem in Germany and Europe,” Einhorn said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
RSS