BERLIN, July 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. chipmaker Intel announced on Thursday that it has abandoned its plan to construct a large-scale semiconductor facility in Germany, citing ongoing efforts to streamline its global production operations. The move brings a definitive end to the project that had been suspended for nearly a year.
The announcement came alongside Intel's second-quarter earnings report, which showed a net loss of 2.9 billion U.S. dollars, compared with a 1.6 billion loss in the same period a year earlier.
The planned factory in Magdeburg, about 150 km west of Berlin, was initially set to break ground in 2024 with a total investment of 30 billion euros (35 billion U.S. dollars). It was expected to create 3,000 direct jobs and, according to the former German government, potentially up to 18,000 indirect jobs in the surrounding region. To support the project, Berlin had pledged roughly 10 billion euros in subsidies.
Intel put the project on hold in September last year amid growing operational and financial pressures, delaying the original production start that had been targeted for 2027 or 2028.
The cancellation comes at a sensitive time for Germany, which is seeking to bolster its high-tech manufacturing sector. A draft of the country's new "Hightech-Agenda," released earlier this month, outlines ambitions to establish at least three semiconductor facilities and position Germany as Europe's leading chip production hub. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollars)
