Intel Rules Out U.K. Chip Factory Because of Brexit: BBC
Intel Corp. won’t consider the U.K. as the site of a new chip plant because of Brexit, its Chief Executive Officer said.
(Bloomberg) --
Intel Corp. won’t consider the U.K. as the site of a new chip plant because of Brexit, its Chief Executive Officer said in an interview with the BBC Thursday.
Britain “would have been a site that we would have considered” before people voted to leave the European Union, Pat Gelsinger told the BBC. But since then “we’re looking at EU countries and getting support from the EU.”
Last month Gelsinger said that Intel has plans to build at least two new semiconductor factories in Europe with investments of as much as 80 billion euros ($95 billion) over the next decade.
The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker has been presented with about 70 proposals for sites across 10 countries in Europe, and Gelsinger hopes it will sign an agreement and secure EU support by the end of the year, he said.
The European Union has been promising to help build up its own semiconductor manufacturing industry, after concerns Asian and U.S. suppliers might not be reliable. Intel has been discussing with European governments whether it could get billions of euros in subsidies to build a factory in the region.
Global semiconductor supply chains have been upended in the last year with shortages and surging demand and Gelsinger said he doesn’t expect things to stabilize until 2023.
“There is some possibility that there may be a few IOUs under the Christmas trees around the world this year,” he said.
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