Intel suspends construction of a factory in Poland for two years. The decision was made due to the company's deteriorating financial situation. The Intel factory near Wrocław was to provide about 2 thousand jobs work. It was said that it was “the largest foreign investment in the history of Poland”. That is why Intel's step back caused great emotions on the Vistula.
Morawiecki pointed out the government's incompetence. Experts correct the situation
“They were bragging until the last moment that they were working on Intel's investment. Today they are withdrawing under the cover of darkness. Only Poland is a pity,” wrote Mateusz on social media. Morawiecki. He referred to the fact that on Friday, the Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, triumphantly announced that “the European Commission informed Poland that there is a green light for the notification of state aid for Intel”. This was supposed to be a serious step towards the implementation of the investment.
Tomasz Smolarek, an investment advisor, however, reproached the former to the prime ministerthat Intel's decision is not political. “It is absolutely not our fault that Intel withdrew (although it claims that it has refrained) from this investment. This is the result of the enormous problems that the company is going through. It has nothing to do with the actions of the government. This one or the previous one. The factories in Poland and Germany are of no use to them now and probably in the rather distant future,” he explains.
Intel has big financial problems
Intel did indeed find itself in financial trouble. Its revenues in the second quarter amounted to 12.8 billion dollarsdown 1% year-over-year. – Our financial results in the second quarter were disappointing (…). The trends in the second half of the year are more difficult than we expected – said Pat Gelsinger, Intel's CEO, announcing a 15% reduction in employment in early August. The company's stock market share also had a difficult time.
– In such a situation, thinking about expansion is pointless and they finally admitted it,” notes Tomasz Smolarek. – Intel's resignation, or as they present it, halting its investment, cannot be a surprise, so there is no point crying over them and waiting idly that something might change in two years. A better direction are Taiwanese entities, coming here after TSMC in Dresden – he adds. According to him, Poland should focus on Taiwanese Foxconn, which is considering building a factory for advanced semiconductor micro-assembly in Europe.
Intel Uncertain. What to Do with Money and Land?
He is not the only one who notices that building an Intel factory was not as fantastic an idea as it seemed. “I didn't know that we wanted to give 2.7 billion PLN to a company that had just made 2 billion dollars losses in one half-year” – notes economic journalist Rafał Hirsch. This amount was included in next year's budget. Former Minister of Digital Affairs Janusz Cieszyński indicates how we should spend this money now.
“Since the investment will not come to fruition, let these funds stay in Lower Silesia and support local governments affected by the flood. This is certainly not the end of their needs, but it is worth starting with it,” he writes. “The withdrawal of Intel's investment is bad news for Poland. Now the government faces a very big challenge of how to get out of this situation,” he adds.
According to Janusz Cieszyński, there are several options. The first is to negotiate a generous reservation fee with Intel for two years of waiting. The second is to find another investor, because after all, we have one of the few best plots of land in Europe for energy-intensive production. The third is to simply let it go and save several hundred million złoty on planned infrastructure investments.
“Lower Silesia is currently experiencing one of the darkest moments in its modern history. This is also why we cannot allow the third, pessimistic scenario to come true. Therefore, regardless of whether we choose option 1 or 2, we should fight to complete the investment in roads, land development and power connection in Miękinia. Such projects, once halted, are resumed for years,” the former minister appeals to the government.
From the statement of Deputy Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, we can read that the government will be more inclined towards attracting further investments to Poland. “This experience allows us to efficiently implement similar projects and we will work on this in the future” – he announced at the end of the announcement about the suspension of Intel's plans.