- Intel has suspended investment plans in Poland. Construction of a factory postponed for two years.
- This decision is due to the company’s deteriorating global financial situation.
- In June 2023, Intel announced an investment of approximately $4.6 billion to launch a semiconductor integration and testing facility in Miękinia near Wrocław.
The company’s deteriorating situation is the reason for suspending investments
As reported in the MC press release, in a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced that the company is suspending its investment plans related to the construction of previously planned semiconductor factories in Germany and Poland until 2026. This decision results from the company’s deteriorating global financial situation.
Since February, the Ministry of Digital Affairs has been conducting the process of pre-notification of public aid for investments in the construction of a semiconductor factory. As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski reported on September 13, “The European Commission has informed Poland that there is a green light for notification of public aid for Intel”. The value of planned public aid spread over the years 2024-2026 was to amount to over PLN 7.4 billion.
As the ministry reported at the time, the government’s consent and notification of public aid enabled the conclusion of an agreement between the State Treasury represented by the Minister of Digital Affairs and Intel, specifying the detailed rules for this aid. The process of granting public aid to Intel was conducted on the basis of a government program called the “National Framework for Supporting Strategic Semiconductor Investments”.
In Monday’s announcement about Intel’s change of plans, the Ministry of Digital Affairs assured that “Poland is open to intensive support for other semiconductor investments in the coming months. The experience and work carried out in cooperation with the EC allow for the efficient implementation of such projects in the future.”
Intel’s gigafactory was supposed to be built near Wrocław
In June 2023, Intel announced an investment of approximately $4.6 billion to launch a semiconductor integration and testing facility in Miękinia near Wrocław. The company announced that the new enterprise would employ approximately 2,000 people. It was emphasized that Intel’s decision also means thousands of positions with suppliers and temporary employment during construction work.
Intel announced at the time that the new factory near Wrocław, combined with the existing silicon wafer production plant in Ireland and a second planned silicon wafer production plant in Magdeburg, Germany, will help create the first comprehensive and most technologically advanced supply chain of its kind in Europe in the field of semiconductor integrated circuit production.
“Entering the area of microprocessor producers, i.e. countries that produce them, means entering an elite group. There are only a few such countries in the world,” commented the then head of PAIH Paweł Kurtasz in an interview with PAP in June last year. He emphasized that the factory would produce a finished product, not components.
When asked about the launch date of the new factory, he noted that “the investor must receive, and PAIH is helping him with this, EU notification regarding this project”. “From that moment on, it will take about 2 years to build the plant; it will then have the potential to start operating” – Kurtasz summed up.
Intel Layoffs as Company Faces Profits Drop
At the end of July this year, “Puls Biznesu”, citing information from Bloomberg, reported that Intel intends to lay off thousands of employees in order to reduce costs and finance ambitious actions aimed at “rebounding from the decline in profits and loss of market share”.
When asked by PAP to comment on the matter, PAIH spokesman Marcin Graczyk stated at the time that the Polish Investment and Trade Agency does not see any threats to Intel’s planned investment. “We do not see any threats to Intel’s announced investment near Wrocław. We are in good, ongoing contact with the investor and we do not see any changes in the planned implementation,” he said in an interview with PAP.
Intel, headquartered in Santa Clara, California’s Silicon Valley, USA, is a new technology company founded in 1968 and one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world. The American company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange produces, among other things, processors for personal computers, as well as IT and hardware solutions for data centers, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles. The company employs over 121,000 people globally, including around 10,000 employees in the European Union.
