Chipmaker Intel has committed to investing a further €12 billion in its Irish operations in a move that will bring to €30 billion the total invested here since 1989.
The move comes as it was revealed that the State has narrowly missed out on becoming home to two new large semiconductor factory sites to Magdeburg, Germany.
In addition to the new German factories, Intel is also creating a new R&D and design hub in France, and announced manufacturing, foundry services and back-end production in Italy, Poland and Spain.
The company, which currently produces all its semiconductors in Europe in Leixlip, said in tandem to those projects, Intel is to invest an additional €12 billion in the “Fab 34” facility in Ireland between now and the end of 2023, it said. This brings the total investment in the facility to €17 billion.
Speaking of the new Irish investment, Taosiseach Micheál Martin said it underlined the importance of Intel’s operations here for the company’s future plans.
“This very significant show of confidence, in Ireland and in our talented and skilled workforce, is a strong endorsement of our offering to investors,” Mr Martin said.
Intel plans to spend more than €33 billion on new manufacturing investments out of a potential €80 billion European spend.
IDA Ireland had pitched a site in Oranmore, Co Galway, as a possible location for a new plant for Intel that would have led to the creation of up to 10,000 jobs.
Sources said the Republic of Ireland was in “final contention” to secure one of the flagship sites despite widespread speculation it had lost out earlier in proceedings.
The company's chief executive, Pat Gelsinger last year said the State was in the running to land some of the €80 billion investment. But doubts soon emerged that this was unlikely amid concerns about delays in the Irish planning system and the rising number of judicial review cases being taken against planning decisions
Speaking to The Irish Times on Tuesday, Mr Gelsinger praised the Irish bid.
“Ireland showed up well. While on some topics we were teaching other places about what we needed, Ireland already knew the playbook,” he said.
“There was not any particular weakness in the Ireland proposal but more the aggressiveness we saw in some of the other proposals. I think also that today’s announcement emphasises how much we wanted an EU-wide project. I think everybody can look at this and agree that this is a good deal for Europe as a whole,” Mr Gelsinger added.
The new Irish investment confirmed on Tuesday comes in addition to a €5 billion one announced last year. Once the investment is completed, employment in Intel Ireland will stand at 6,500 people.
The new German facilities are expected to deliver chips using Intel’s most advanced, Angstrom-era transistor technologies.
