Germany paying $5.5bn for Intel fab 

Intel’s plan is to start building the fab next year and have it on-stream in 2027.

Whether or not additional funds are available from the EU is not known. The European Chips Act is budgeted at $48 billion but where the money is coming from is uncertain.

It seems that only €5 billion – or  15% of the Chips Act budget – is coming from direct EU funding and the rest has to be clawed back from already allocated spending.

It has been suggested that already-allocated funds from the €95.5-billion Horizon Europe budget could be re-purposed. EC president Ursula Von der Leyen has said that, in addition, she’ll find €12 billion from public/private sources.

The EU has said that companies receiving state aid will face “public service obligations” like undertaking that in times of crisis, the EU can require companies to report stock levels and prioritise certain products. The EU could also implement export controls and launch joint purchasing schemes.

Whether or not the agreement negotiated with Germany includes these obligations is not known,

Intel says it expects 30% subsidies when it builds a fab, and CEO Pat Gelsinger says it costs 30-40% more to build a fab in Europe than in Asia.