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Location appears to have beaten Dresden and Penzing to the prize, but Intel has yet to officially confirm its choice.
Last April, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger visited Europe, scouting locations for a new mega fab. European chip manufacturing expansion plans will form an essential part of Intel's IDM 2.0 strategy. Since Gelsinger visited Europe, there has been speculation about Intel mega fab locations in Germany, France, Italy -- or even Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg. Today, the German state broadcaster for Saxony-Anhalt, MDR, claims that Intel has chosen Magdeburg as the site for a chip-making mega fab.
According to the report, Intel chose Magdeburg over two other sites in Germany in a hotly contested race. Dresden was promoted heavily by that city's governance and the likes of Hubert Lakner, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems. Another contender was the much smaller Bavarian town of Penzing; however, Bavaria was an earlier hot tip for success in this race.
The question is: Will Intel be able to fill those fabs with equipment and customers?
I visited the GF fab in Dresden and toured some of the historical sites. Angela Merkel was touring the fab and I thought for sure the German government would get behind semiconductors but I thought wrong. Now they are going to pay Intel billions of dollars to build a mega fab?
Side note, TSMC builds giga fabs while Intel is building mega fabs? Did Pat not get that memo?
I'm wondering if Germany is the best location among all EU member countries to start a new fab. Germany has several weakness for operating a fab such as: six weeks of vacation, hight labor cost, needs to import electricity, and now they are at the mercy of Russia to provide natural gas for heating.
Is there any better location than Germany among EU members?
Germany has several weakness for operating a fab such as: six weeks of vacation, hight labor cost, needs to import electricity, and now they are at the mercy of Russia to provide natural gas for heating.
That's why Germany has so few well succeed companies, right ? /s
Nowdays running fabs is all about automation, the key elements are supply chain and talented engineers. Can you start a fab in Portugal or Czech Republic ? Yes, for sure, but can you bring 1000+ skilled engineers to work there ? It would cost lots of money and time. Plus you will have to start the supply ecosystem from scratch.
That's why Germany has so few well succeed companies, right ? /s
Nowdays running fabs is all about automation, the key elements are supply chain and talented engineers. Can you start a fab in Portugal or Czech Republic ? Yes, for sure, but can you bring 1000+ skilled engineers to work there ? It would cost lots of money and time. Plus you will have to start the supply ecosystem from scratch.
Germany has many well established industry giants and many of them have been in business for 80, 90 years or longer. A new fab in Germany will enjoy strong industry base but will face strong competition in recruiting talents too.
As far as supply chain concerns, I need to point out that it takes only two hours to drive from Globalfoundries Dresden fab in Germany to Prague Czech. Several times it took me more than two hours to drive from one city to the other city in San Francisco Bay area. Don't rule out non Germany EU countries so quick yet.
Why does Intel keep picking these secondary locations with no [recent] history of fabs (Ohio, Magedeburg) ? Your first problem is to get skilled people to move there when there are no alternative employers. In general, you don't succeed in high tech by going for the cheapest location or the biggest taxpayer handout.
Why does Intel keep picking these secondary locations with no [recent] history of fabs (Ohio, Magedeburg) ? Your first problem is to get skilled people to move there when there are no alternative employers. In general, you don't succeed in high tech by going for the cheapest location or the biggest taxpayer handout.
Because you need a lot of land, a huge amount of water and electricity and a good transport network. Some places that may look good cannot provide the water or electricity without disruption to the local economy, or the land is already at a premium. Workforce is mobile and if you have to pay them a bit more to move it is not a big issue compared to the investments and consumable costs involved. Actually when they have moved, the barrier to change for a few dollars a week to go next door is lower. In any case you have a shortage of technically skilled people everywhere for the middle and high management and the specialists positions, while for the lower management, operators and maintenance you can get them anywhere you have some industrial plants and train them in a few weeks.
