If the Veneto tries to accelerate, hoping to quickly close the agreement for the establishment of Intel in Vigasius, the US giant seems to be slowing down. Interviewed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the CEO Pat Gelsinger said some scary words. How reports the Corriere della Sera, Italy is “still in the game” to host the now famous back-end and packaging plant essential for the creation of the microprocessors of the future (in this article the meaning of these technical words).

There are still no formal documents, so we can say that the situation has not changed compared to yesterday, but since the announcement of a “potential” system with employment figures and numbers (details here), and especially of Italy explicitly, to say that the boot is “still in the game”, we are passing. What happened in less than a year? We know that the semiconductor race has deflated in recent months and all the realities of the technology sector are pulling the oars in the boat, even Intel. On the other hand, inflation runs and costs increase.

However, the European plan announced last March appeared well articulated and defined, and above all long-term: Could the slowdown in the market have reshuffled the cards? Difficult to think, because there may have been a slowdown, but not being questioned again after Gelsinger’s media hype on the need to have a chip supply chain freed from Asia to be more resilient.

And, in fact, the project of the two manufacturing Fabs in Germany, in Magdeburg, is progressing. “With Germany we are moving forward. We are finishing negotiations on some aspects with the European Union and with the Germans on the size of the other plant”. Reassurances also came from the municipality of the German town after rumors of a possible delay.

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So what is holding back the “grounding” of Italian investment? According to the reconstruction of Corriere and the words of the CEO, the European Chips Act “has not yet been approved”, and with it the possibility of governments to pay more state aid for the construction of semiconductor plants – the CdS speaks of a cover equal to about 40% of the costs. Could this be the problem holding up a deal with Intel? Is the US company “gambling” to get more subsidies?

“Originally we announced a packaging plant in the European Union, and this project also remains. Now we have to see where to land this project, in which country. Italy is still in the game, but so are other candidate countries. We’re trying to see where. We will decide within the year,” Gelsinger explained to Corriere.

Meanwhile the CEO spoke by telephone from Davos with Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday evening: there are no important representatives of Italy at the World Economic Forum, while Gelsinger met with Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland and, perhaps, also with Pedro Sanchez (Spain) and Andrzej Duda (Poland). Spain and Poland were already part of the project, and so was Ireland where Intel has already been present since 1989 and is expanding its Fab.

We add that, interviewed by Il Sole 24 Ore, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso stated that “the confrontation continuesalso this morning I contacted the offices of the European Commission. All that has been asked to Italy and the government, as well as to the regions that have nominated their territories, it has been done. We have Responded to all company inquiries and we are in daily contact with both the company and the Commission offices. We understand that the investment in Italy is the most important and significant because it is the one with the most cutting-edge technology. It’s an investment in a new stage of technology. The government is at the forefront of this, it believes in the project and will take care of completing it in the times when the company and the market obviously allow it. We are here, it is the company that will choose which, in its opinion, is the most suitable area for investment“.

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Some business journalists say that Intel has held back on the European project after the US Inflation Reduction Act, the maxi plan worth 360-370 billion dollars launched by Biden to facilitate the energy and technological transition of the United States. A huge “state aid” directed to US companies that could convince Intel to further strengthen its presence in the country and downsize the European project.

Finally, a little background. In an article in La Stampa in recent days, a leading source from the former Draghi government points the finger at the former minister for digital transition Vittorio Colao. “Unfortunately we didn’t do a good job, and part of the responsibility lay in Colao’s belief that he could do it on his own thanks to his personal relationship with Gelsinger,” he reads.

We were among the first to say that Italy should have quickly transformed the word “potential” into a concrete investment in order not to risk losing it. The latest news doesn’t look good, but taking Gelsinger back “we’re still in the game”. So let’s win this game.

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