Over the past year, Intel has started a plan to create new facilities and foundries in Europe with financial support from the European Union. Since the European Union is involved in funding, because the UK voted and agreed to leave the European Union earlier this year, Intel removed the country from its list of potential smelter and facility locations to create nearby jobs and supply of components to Europe.
In a recent interview by the BBC, Intel's Pat Gelsinger said that Intel aims to build two factories in Europe. But to the surprise of few, the United Kingdom will not be on the list of possible because it does not currently belong to the European Union.
UK will not have an Intel foundry upon exiting the European Union
Before Brexit, the UK was a potential location for an Intel chip factory that would have created jobs. As of today, Intel has some 70 proposals from ten other countries to install some of its European foundries and hopes to decide on a final location before the end of this year.
Intel plans to build new factories in Europe as part of its “IDM 2.0” project, a $95 billion strategy to make the U.S. and Europe less dependent on Chinese manufacturers for electronic components. By opening and upgrading plants over the next ten years, it hopes to increase chip production and for European foundries to speed up the lead and turnaround time for new components.
At the moment, Intel has eight active chip factories, of which only one is located in Europe, which is the Leixlip Campus in Ireland. During the interview, Gelsinger also commented on the ongoing chip shortage, saying that shortages remain to this day, but expect the situation to stabilize by 2023.
Source: Kitguru
