One of the world's largest giants in the new technology industry – Intel – is suspending a project to build factories in Germany and Poland for two years because the company's situation is deteriorating, the Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs announced on Monday evening.
As stated in the MC press release, in a conversation with the Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced that the company is suspending until 2026 its investment plans related to the construction of the previously planned semiconductor factories in Germany and Poland. This decision is due to the deteriorating global financial situation of the company.
Since February, the Ministry of Digital Affairs has been conducting the process of pre-notification of public aid for investments in the construction of a semiconductor factory. As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski reported on September 13, “The European Commission has informed Poland that there is a green light for notification of public aid for Intel”. The value of planned public aid spread over the years 2024-2026 was to amount to over PLN 7.4 billion.
As the ministry reported at the time, the government's consent and notification of public aid enabled the conclusion of an agreement between the State Treasury represented by the Minister of Digital Affairs and Intel, specifying the detailed rules for this aid. The process of granting public aid to Intel was conducted on the basis of a government program called the “National Framework for Supporting Strategic Semiconductor Investments”.
In Monday's announcement about Intel's change of plans, the Ministry of Digital Affairs assured that “Poland is open to intensive support for other semiconductor investments in the coming months. The experience and work carried out in cooperation with the EC allow for the efficient implementation of such projects in the future.”
This is what the Intel factory in Poland should look likeIntel
In June 2023, Intel announced an investment of approximately $4.6 billion to launch a semiconductor integration and testing facility in Miękinia near Wrocław..
The company announced that the new enterprise will employ about two thousand people. It was emphasized that Intel's decision also means thousands of positions with suppliers and temporary employment during construction work.
Intel announced then that the new factory near Wrocław, combined with the existing silicon wafer production plant in Ireland and a second planned silicon wafer production plant in Magdeburg, Germany, will help create the first comprehensive and most technologically advanced supply chain of its kind in Europe for the production of semiconductor integrated circuits.
– Entering the area of microprocessor producers, i.e. countries that produce them, means entering an elite group. There are only a few such countries in the world – commented on this information in June last year, the then head of PAIH Paweł Kurtasz. He emphasized that the factory will produce a finished product, not components.
When asked about the launch date of the new factory, he noted that “the investor must receive, and PAIH is helping him with this, EU notification regarding this project”. – From that moment on, it will take about 2 years to build the plant; then it will have the potential to start operating – Kurtasz summed up.
At the end of July, “Puls Biznesu”, citing information from Bloomberg, reported that Intel intends to lay off thousands of employees in order to reduce costs and finance ambitious actions aimed at “rebounding from the decline in profits and loss of market share”.
When asked to comment on the matter, PAIH spokesman Marcin Graczyk stated at the time that the Polish Investment and Trade Agency does not see any threats to Intel's planned investment. – We do not see any threats to Intel's announced investment near Wrocław. We are in good, ongoing contact with the investor and do not see any changes in the planned implementation – he said.
Intel is headquartered in Santa Clara, California's Silicon Valley. USA is a new technology company founded in 1968, one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world. The American company listed on NASDAQ stock exchange produces, among others, processors for personal computers, as well as IT and hardware solutions for data centers, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. The company employs over 121 thousand people globally, including around 10 thousand employees in the European Union.
Main image source: Intel