- Title: Scholz on TSMC investment: Germany will become major chip hub
- Date: 8th August 2023
- Summary: WILDENAU, GERMANY (AUGUST 8, 2023) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS SHOTS OF GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ DURING A VISIT OF AN AEROSPACE CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ, SAYING: "Germany is now probably becoming the major location for semiconductor production in Europe. That is important for the resilience of production structures around the world. But it is also important for the future viability of our European continent. And that is important, especially of course for the future viability of Germany."
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2023 15:38
- Keywords: Dresden TSMC silicon saxony
- Location: DRESDEN, WILDAU, FLENSBURG, GERMANY
- City: DRESDEN, WILDAU, FLENSBURG, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001312408082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany is likely to become a major European chip production hub, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday, after TSMC became the latest semiconductor manufacturer to announce investment in the country. "This is important for the resilience of production structures all over the world, but it is also important for the future viability of our European continent, and ... of Germany," Scholz said.
Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC on Tuesday committed 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) to a factory in Germany, its first in Europe, taking advantage of huge state support for the $11 billion plant as the continent seeks to bring supply chains closer to home.
The plant, which will be TSMC's third outside traditional manufacturing bases Taiwan and China, is central to Berlin's ambition to foster the domestic semiconductor industry its car industry will need to remain globally competitive. The European Union has approved the European Chips Act, a 43 billion euro subsidy plan to double its chip making capacity by 2030, in a bid to catch up with Asia and the United States after shortages and high prices during the COVID-19 pandemic created havoc for the continent's carmakers and machine builders. Germany, which has been courting the world's largest contract chipmaker since 2021, will contribute up to 5 billion euros to the factory in Dresden, capital of the eastern state of Saxony, German officials said.
Saxony, centre of the former East Germany's electronics industry, already has several chip "fabs" and is heir to a tradition of precision craftsmanship: in one of the 40 rounds of talks, officials from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) were treated to a visit to see exquisitely-wrought jewellery in Dresden's Green Vault museum.
TSMC's is the single largest investment in Saxony's history and a boost for conservative state premier Michael Kretschmer, who faces a strong challenge from the anti-immigration, far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of next year's regional election. "
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck hailed the investment as a vote of confidence in a German economy that has been battered by high energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which triggered a slowdown and fears that Europe's economic powerhouse could be deindustrialising. "There is going to be a real ecosystem for semiconductor manufacturing in Germany," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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