Major Media Outlets Including Spiegel Report Simultaneously
'America First' Trump Re-Election Impact
"Production Facilities Will Rather Move to the US"
"Germany Plans to Fill Budget Gap with Intel Subsidies"
According to major German media outlets such as Der Spiegel on the 9th (local time), the plan for Intel, a leading American semiconductor company, to establish a new factory in Germany appears to have fallen through due to the re-election of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who advocates for America First policies.
According to the media, Raint Grof, director of the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) in Germany, said that with the election of former President Trump, some companies are likely to relocate production facilities back to the United States, adding, "The possibility of Intel coming to Magdeburg is extremely slim."
Intel had planned to build a semiconductor production facility in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, with subsidies from the German government, but announced in September that it would postpone the plan due to restructuring.
The German government aimed to reduce foreign dependence in the semiconductor sector and make the country a European semiconductor production hub, agreeing to support 10 billion euros (15 trillion won) of Intel's 30 billion euro (45 trillion won) factory construction costs. However, there have been ongoing criticisms locally questioning whether building a U.S. company's factory in Germany would achieve semiconductor self-sufficiency. Grof stated, "Even if the factory is built, many components will still have to be imported from China or Taiwan," adding, "It is impossible to completely relocate the semiconductor supply chain to Europe or Germany."
The German federal government also views the likelihood of Intel continuing with the factory construction as low. The economic newspaper Handelsblatt reported that newly appointed Finance Minister J?rg Kukies plans to use the Intel subsidies, which were budgeted with next year's groundbreaking in mind, to fill budget gaps in other sectors.
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