Europe is experiencing a difficult time when it comes to technology. With the United States and Asia pushing hard, different European governments have come across reality: there is no technological, industrial or mining muscle. It is something that we want to remedy and Germany can be a lung.
With a billion-dollar investment, Germany is going to attract both Intel and TSMC to create new factories on our continent, but the plan is for many more companies to sign up to create the European Silicon Valley. One of the problems apart from financing? Work ethic and salariesvery different from what these companies already experience in Asian territory.
Germany wants to become the European Silicon Valley
Germany is not in a buoyant economic situation either, but there are plans to revitalize its industry alongside some of the largest functions in the world.
It has prepared 22,000 million euros in direct incentives for chip manufacturers and, although it is something that the Federal Government must finish approving, it is something with which they hope to attract investment.
So much so that he plans to open a megafactory in Magdeburg. It will have an investment of 30,000 million euros and it is expected that the State will contribute 10,000 million for manufacturing. It will be a chip manufacturing plant and the truth is that it is much closer to ASML than Intel’s foundries in the United States.
Now, they are not the only ones. When we talk about chip manufacturing companies, we must talk about the Taiwanese TSMC. It is estimated that they have 60% of the market share in contracts to manufacture chips with a Samsung that, although it is developing its most cutting-edge technology to manufacture chips in 2 nanometers, is in second place with a 13% share.
Carsten Scheider is the East German Minister for Equal Living Conditions and has commented that “both Intel in Magdeburg and TSMC in Dresden can rely on the Chancellor’s promises“, alluding to this German financing for the construction of the new factories.
Apart from Intel, TSMC is planning a semiconductor factory in Dresden that would cost 10 billion euros, with German financing of 5,000 million in this case. The idea is also to attract other TSMC supplier factories that are currently located in Asia to facilitate chip manufacturing in Europe.
Of course, as we read in Digitimes, not everything is the money to open the factories, but other elements that must be taken into account. And a supplier of high-purity electronic chemicals for TSMC has commented that, although the costs of transporting these elements are not a concern, the difference between European and Taiwanese work ethics and culture could be a problem.
Although there is legislation in this regard in countries like China or Taiwan, they tend to be somewhat more lax laws than those we have in European countries. It is also one of the reasons why in Europe the refining of rare earths was put aside to outsource everything to China, who has managed to dominate this market by having environmental laws less rigid than European ones.
We will see what happens, but it is clear that in Germany there is interest in attracting the semiconductor industry and, in the event of any conflict, having foundries in Europe can be an advantage.
Via | Xataka
Cover image: TSMC
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