The Story:
Intel, a multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., recently announced a massive new investment in the manufacture of computer chips across the European Union. According to plans, the fabrication site in Magdeburg Germany alone will account for 3,000 permanent jobs once it is completed. Until then, it will create as many as 7,000 new jobs in construction, beginning in the first half of 2023
Significance:
The pandemic of the last two years has illustrated vividly the frailty of the supply chain for many items characteristic of contemporary life, electronic devices among them. Put more simply: there is value in having components manufactured in close proximity to where they are going to be put together, and in having them put together close to where they are going to be sold.
Ongoing global chip shortages have hurt the markets for personal computers, cars, medical devices, etc.
Strange New Worlds:
A lot of electronic devices are sold in Europe. Hence, Intel has taken the initiative and announced that it will be investing 33 billion euros (roughly US$36 billion) in what it calls the “first phase” of the program. The money will be going to Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain and, as noted above, Germany.
