NEWS: Ireland says European Union won't allow state aid for new Intel chip plant, page 1

posted on Mar, 2 2005 @ 06:30 PM

link

Faced with the possibility that the European Union would reject its proposed aid, Ireland today withdrew a major grant to Intel Corporation's newest chip plant. Ireland, already Intel's main European hub had offered a similar $130 million dollar offer for another plant in 2004. The E.U has indicated that they were opposed because of Intel's dominant chip position. Intel currently employs 4000 people in its Ireland operation.

story.news.yahoo.com
DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Ireland said Wednesday it has withdrawn a major grant package to Intel Corp., the world's leading computer-chip maker, because European Union competition authorities were likely to reject the proposed aid as illegal.

Trade and Employment Minister Micheal Martin said the government abandoned its nine-month effort to win EU approval for the aid package because EU competition authorities were planning to open a probe into Ireland's plans. Martin said he'd been told that the investigators could take six to 18 months and would probably rule against Ireland.

Martin said he remained confident that Intel would keep building the 5,574-square-metre plant at a projected cost of 1.6 billion euros (US$2.1 billion). Once complete in 2006, the plant is supposed to become Intel's world centre for making its next-generation chip, called Fab 24-2.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

It seems the E.U. policies exist solely to protect the interests of France and to a lesser extend Germany. Funny you never see these type of rulings go against France eh? If this is the case, why does Airbus continue to get such subsidies? A city in Germany spent hundreds of millions to build a plant just to attract some of its business. How is that a subsidy?

djohnsto77

posted on Mar, 2 2005 @ 06:37 PM

link

My question is why is Intel building this plant in Europe in the first place? They should keep building these chips in the United States in my opinion.

FredT

posted on Mar, 2 2005 @ 06:42 PM

link

Originally posted by djohnsto77
My question is why is Intel building this plant in Europe in the first place? They should keep building these chips in the United States in my opinion.

Its a multi national company, and the 12.5% corporate profit tax no doubt played a part. Thats the same reason it has plants in Isreal as well.