Vigasio, south of Verona and a short distance from the Brenner motorway, will be the Italian place where Intel will place a new chip factory.
The news was relaunched by Reuters over the weekend, but according to the financial agency the details of the agreement that also involved Palazzo Chigi would have been defined at the beginning of the month, without however formalizing anything in view of the electoral appointment. In fact, no comments have been made by the parties involved, both American multinational and government.
The chip market has been one of the most disrupted by the pandemic. The boom in connections and the use of technology has led to a high level of demand, which production has not been able to satisfy. In fact, many applications have run out of chips, as they know well in the automotive industry. On the other hand, it is a hyper-concentrated sector in the hands of a few giants, who are in Far East Asia or in the USA. Europe is in the middle, with a plan to catch up.
Meanwhile, the American multinational is moving with a nod to the Old Continent. Intel’s 4.5 billion investment in Italy is part of a broader plan, announced by the US chip maker last March, to invest up to 80 billion euros over the next decade in Europe. The announcement of Intel’s investment plan did so last March a month after the European Commission had prepared a plan to encourage the microchip industry to invest in EU countries. On the part dedicated to Italy, a clash between the ministers Giorgetti and Colao had also been staged.
Now it seems that the billions of possible investments are not going to waste. According to Intel, the plant will create 1,500 jobs plus another 3,500 from the related industries and will be active between 2025 and 2027. As mentioned, there are currently no official confirmations from Intel or the Draghi Executive also because the negotiations, writes Reuters, are still pending and confidential. Then there is the fact that the Italian government could put on the plate – as the agency previously wrote – up to 40% of the resources and this would necessarily involve sharing the plan with the new executive.
The site will be a semiconductor packaging and assembly plant. Located near Verona, connected to the motorway and the Brenner railway, Vigasio was the preferred choice between a shortlist of two sites (the other was in Piedmont). Vigasio is also well connected with Germany and in particular with Magdeburg, the city where Intel will build two plants.