Stm, here’s how Italy also favors France on chips
The Italian-French STM and the American GlobalFoundries plan a new chip factory in France worth 5.7 billion dollars. Funding from Paris (within the European framework of the Chips Act) comes to support the investment. Facts, numbers and insights
A new semiconductor factory will be built in France, thanks to financial support from Paris (under the European Chips Act).
Yesterday, the Italian-French chipmaker Stm and the American microchip manufacturer GlobalFoundries announced their intention to build a semiconductor factory in Crolles, near the border with Switzerland and our country.
The multibillion-dollar project (estimated at € 5.7 billion) will receive significant public support as part of Europe's effort to increase the global share of microprocessor manufacturing within the EU to 20% from the current 10% by. 2030.
As the Financial Times recalls, "The project is the second chip plant to benefit from the € 43 billion European Chips Act" to incentivize the construction of chip factories in Europe.
In March, US-based Intel announced an investment of $ 88 billion across Europe. In that case, the American manufacturer chose Germany as the site for a huge new chip manufacturing complex.
"The news comes as French President Emmanuel Macron prepares to announce approximately € 6.7 billion in investments from large global companies at this week's Choose France summit," reports Reuters . The Elysée will support business plans with subsidies, but has not disclosed the extent of the incentives for now.
On the other hand, France is the main shareholder of STMicroelectronics together with Italy (through the Ministry of Economy), each with a 13.75% stake in the company.
All the details.
THE NEW PLANT IN FRANCE OF STM AND GLOBALFOUNDRY
The new semiconductor plant will be built alongside the existing Stm plant in Crolles. The plant is expected to reach full production capacity by 2026, the press release reads.
Up to 620,000 wafers per year with dimensions of 18 nanometers are expected to be produced. The latter are mainly intended for applications in the automotive and Internet of things industries.
THE STRATEGY
The new factory will create around 1,000 new jobs. In addition, the facility would help meet SMT's goal of driving revenue over $ 20 billion.
“The collaboration with GF will allow us to proceed more quickly, lower the risk thresholds and strengthen the European FD-SOI ecosystem. We will have a greater ability to support our European and global customers in the transition to digitalisation and decarbonisation, ”said Jean-Marc Chery, president and CEO of STMicroelectronics.
While STMicro had already revealed plans to double its investments this year to $ 3.6 billion, GlobalFoundries is expanding into the United States, Germany and Singapore.
DO NOT SPECIFY THE RESOURCES OF THE INVESTMENT
The companies did not disclose the amount of the investment or how much funding the French state would provide.
The Elysée owner's office said President Macron will visit the new plant, which is expected to represent an investment of over 5.7 billion, but did not specify in which currency.
HOW MUCH WILL PARIS PAY OUT?
In a joint statement, the two chip makers said they "will receive significant financial support from the French state for the new facility."
Asked how much support from the French government has influenced the choice of companies where to build the plant, the CEO of GlobalFoundries said: "Without the French participation, these investments would be very demanding," underlines the FT .
French presidential advisors said they could not disclose the amount of the subsidy as they hoped there would be money from the European Commission as part of the Chips Act, the budget of which has yet to be negotiated, Reuters said.
Last February, the European Commission announced a new European Chips Act which will allow € 15 billion of additional public and private investment until 2030. This is on top of the € 30 billion of public investment previously allocated. The goal is to secure the supply of the semiconductors that drive the global economy, while also attempting to catch up in the smaller cutting-edge chips produced almost exclusively in Asia.
THE FIRST TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES INTEL
The first to seize the opportunity of European subsidies was the American Intel.
In March, Intel announced an 80 billion euro investment plan in the EU over the next decade in the semiconductor chain. In particular, the main project will concern a 'mega-plant' in Germany, in Magdeburg, worth 17 billion euros for the manufacture of semiconductors.
Investments are also planned in France, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Spain, with the aim of creating a “European microchip ecosystem”, underlined the American company.
The company is expected to receive billions in state and EU subsidies to produce the miniaturized chips that are typically used for high-performance computing devices, servers and smartphones. In France, it plans to build its new European research hub, creating 1,000 new jobs in the high-tech sector.
Intel's site will manufacture the latest 2-nanometer chips, which are relatively newer than the STM-GlobalFoundries project.
Asian chip makers such as TSMC and Samsung have also set out big investment plans but have so far not announced any semiconductor factories in Europe, Reuters said.
INTEL'S NEGOTIATIONS IN ITALY
In our country, as Startmag Intel reports, “is in talks for a back-end production plant for a potential investment of up to 4.5 billion euros and plans to start operations between 2025 and 2027. The Draghi government does not leak enthusiasm: the ministry of economic development headed by Giancarlo Giorgetti expected much more from the plans of the American giant ”.
WHEN INTEL GOT ITS EYES ON GLOBALFOUNDRY
Additionally, last year's disclosures showed Intel interested in acquiring its own GlobalFoundries (which is starting the chip manufacturing plant with Smt). GlobalFoundries is an American company that manufactures semiconductors, and is one of the most important in the world. It operates in North America, Europe and Singapore .
The company is owned by Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund that manages assets worth over $ 240 billion in total. Rather than proceeding towards the sale, GlobalFoundries independently proceeded with an IPO last October.
ALL PLANS OF STM
Finally, there is the activism of the Franco-Italian manufacturer StMicroelectronics which has therefore chosen France as the site of the new plant with GF of 620 thousand silicon wafers per year.
In fact, STM also has important offices in Agrate and Catania and has planned investments for both sites.
Last June Stm entered into a partnership with Tower Semiconductor , which will have space in the Agrate R3 factory. Tower Semiconductor is active in the production of silicon wafers for semiconductor devices for third parties (foundry). Under the agreement, STM will host Tower in the 300 mm Agrate R3 factory currently under construction at its site in Agrate Brianza, in the province of Monza Brianza. For this plant, Stm has foreseen an investment of 1.64 billion euros.
We remind you that Stmicrolectronics is controlled with a 27.5% stake by ST Holding, the Italian-French joint venture 50% owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy (Mef) and by the vehicle Ft1Ci, 95% owned by the state company Bpi France (Caisse de Dépots group) and 5% by the French Atomic Agency.
But for this new € 5.7 billion project, the venue could only be French as the companies themselves admitted that the investment would have been challenging without the participation of the Paris government.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/stm-ecco-come-anche-italia-favorisce-la-francia-sui-chip/ on Tue, 12 Jul 2022 10:26:19 +0000.