Intel revealed an ambitious plan last year to create a new European chip manufacturing arm as part of its IDM 2.0 strategy. At the time, the company…
In context: Intel has been operating in the European Union for 30 years, employing around 10,000 people across the 27 member countries. Now the silicon giant’s newly-formed Foundry Services division is on a quest to conquer a larger share of the semiconductor space, and its latest move is a European manufacturing arm that will make everything from microcontrollers to the most advanced chips for phones, computers, servers, and network infrastructure. Intel revealed an ambitious plan last year to create a new European chip manufacturing arm as part of its IDM 2.0 strategy. At the time, the company said it would invest up to €80 billion ($87.5 billion) over the next several years to build at least two factories in the region, but their exact location remained a mystery. Today, the company announced “Silicon Junction” — the first phase of an aggressive multi-year plan to expand and diversify its manufacturing capabilities. The plan starts with a new leading-edge fab mega-site in Magdeburg, Germany, which is another way of saying that Intel will build a campus the size of a small city. The project will drain no less than €17 billion ($18.6 billion) from the investment fund, and mirrors many of the aspects of another Intel facility that will be built in Columbus, Ohio. Rendering of Intel’s planned Magdeburg campus The German hub will be host to about 3,000 permanent employees and 7,000 temporary workers for the construction effort.
