The Irish government wanted to pursue a state grant to support Intel in its proposed wafer fabrication extension, which would produce a superfast chip called Fab 24-2, but now the country’s Investment and Development Agency is anxious that the EU intervention has put dampeners on any future attempts to request state subsidies to secure key foreign investments.
The EU is reported to be generally reluctant to offer state aid packages to large international firms such as Intel due to fears of dominance, and in this case laid some of the blame at Intel’s door, claiming that the company did not consider other European locations and criticizing its plans to build the new plant in County Kildare, where employment and the number of high-tech industries are high.
Intel, meanwhile, said the decision had not affected its plans to complete the plant, which is expected to happen by 2006, but it hinted that future investments might be reconsidered. The company is also thinking about expanding its Chandler semiconductor plant in Arizona.
