Italy is close to clinching a deal initially worth $5 billion with Intel to build an advanced semiconductor packaging and assembly plant in the country, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters on Thursday.
Intel's investment in Italy is part of a wider plan
announced by the U.S. chipmaker earlier this year to invest $88 billion in
building capacity across Europe, which is striving to cut its reliance on Asian
chip imports and ease a supply crunch that has curbed output in the region's
strategic car sector.
Asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter,
the sources said the government of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi was
working to have an agreement in place by the end of August, ahead of a snap
national election scheduled on Sept. 25.
Sources have previously told Reuters that Rome is ready to
fund as much as 40% of Intel's total investment in Italy, which is expected to
rise over time from the initial $5 billion.
Draghi's office and Intel both declined to comment.
The factory would use new technologies to weave together
full chips out of tiles.
Intel and the government have shortlisted possible sites in
two Italian regions, the sources said, with one of them adding they are located
in the northern regions of Piedmont and Veneto.
A final decision on where to build the facility is yet to be
made, both the sources said. The Lombardy, Apulia and Sicily regions had also
been considered initially.
The total size of Intel's investment and how Italy plans to
fund its share of it is not yet clear.
Under the so-called Chips Act aimed at funding innovative
semiconductor facilities, the European Commission early this year said it had
made available 15 billion euros in additional public and private investment by
2030. This is on top of 30 billion euros of public investments already planned
from NextGenerationEU, Horizon Europe and national budgets.
Rome so far has set aside 4.15 billion euros until 2030 to
attract chipmakers and invest in new industrial applications of innovative
technologies.
The government is also in talks with French-Italian
STMicroelectronics, Taiwan chipmakers MEMC Electronic Materials Inc and TSMC,
and Israeli Tower Semiconductor, which Intel bought earlier this year.
STMicroelectronics last month signed a pact with
GlobalFoundries to build a $5.7 billion chip factory in France.
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