Chipmakers STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries are planning a $5.7 billion semiconductor factory in France.
STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries, the leading semiconductor companies, did not disclose their investment plan for the new site near the Italian and Swiss borders or how much funding the French state would provide.
Reuters news report said that the investment would be about $5.7 billion, while Le Figaro newspaper earlier reported it would be nearly 4 billion euros ($4.06 billion).
The factory would create around 1,000 new jobs and also help STMicro reach its target to boost revenue to above $20 billion.
STMicroelectronics CEO Jean-Marc Chery said: “We will have more capacity to support our European and global customers as they transition to digitalisation and decarbonisation.”
GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield said: “Our footprint enables GF to not only meet our customers capacity needs but also provides them supply chain security. The partnership investment with the French government, along with our long-term customer agreements, creates the right economic model for GF’s investment.”
France President Emmanuel Macron prepares to announce some 6.7 billion euros ($6.8 billion) worth of investment from major global companies at this week’s Choose France summit.
The United States and the European Union have been pushing for home-grown chip factories by offering billions in state subsidies to cut dependency on Asian suppliers and ease a global chip shortage, which has created havoc for carmakers.
This facility, which will be next to STM’s existing facility in Crolles, is targeted to reach full capacity by 2026, with up to 620,000 wafers per year of production (~42 percent ST and ~58 percent GF) at a size of 18-nanometers, STMicroelectronics said in a news statement.
Those are used in automotive, internet-of-things and mobile applications.
The European Commission earlier this year eased funding rules for innovative semiconductor plants as part of the European Chips Act as the bloc seeks to double its global market share to 20 percent in 2030.
In March, Intel laid out plans for a $88 billion investment across Europe and picking Germany as the site for a huge new chipmaking complex. In France, Intel plans to build its European research hub, creating 1,000 new high-tech jobs.
Intel’s site will make the latest 2-nanometer chips, which are comparatively newer than the STM-GlobalFoundries project.
