Intel scraps plan to build chip factories in Poland, Germany
The US-based technology giant Intel has cancelled plans to construct semiconductor factories in south-western Poland and eastern Germany.
Intel is to significantly scale down the construction of new chip factories, the company's CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on Thursday, following the publication of second-quarter financial results.
In a message to all employees which was published on that day, Tan wrote that the company had been investing too much and too soon over the recent years, without taking demand for its products into consideration, which resulted in a fragmented and underutilised factory footprint. "We must correct our course," he said.
"With that in mind, we have decided not to move forward with previously planned projects in Germany and Poland," he announced, adding that the company remained committed to investing in the US.
In June 2023, Intel announced plans to invest USD 4.6 billion (EUR 3.9 bln) in the construction of a chip integration and testing plant near Wroclaw, south-western Poland, which was supposed to create 2,000 new jobs.
The company's biggest semiconductor factory in Europe was to be built in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, an investment worth EUR 30 billion, with EUR 10 billion contributed by the German government.
According to the CNBC news broadcaster, Intel shares were up 13 percent this year, after plummeting by 60 percent in 2024, their worst year on record.(PAP)wpb/jd
