Eamonn Sinnott
Intel Vice President, Manufacturing and Operations and General Manager, Intel Ireland.
Intel today announced the largest pan-European investment programme in the history of the company. Manufacturing and R&D investment plans for Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland will help create the next generation of semiconductor ecosystem in Europe.
For over 30 years Ireland has been the flag-bearer of Intel’s European manufacturing presence and with this renewed investment in the region we remain at the very centre of our company’s global ambitions.
With today’s announcement Intel plans to build multiple leading-edge manufacturing sites in Europe. Here, on the same former stud farm site that Intel selected for its first European manufacturing base in the late 1980s, we are completing construction of our latest manufacturing expansion – Fab 34. With this new fab we double the manufacturing capacity available in Ireland and will deliver powerful and efficient Intel 4 technology to a continent hungry for local production of leading-edge semiconductor technology.
In March last year we confirmed that €5 billion was invested in its construction between 2019 and 2021. Today our CEO Pat Gelsinger confirmed that a further €12 billion will be invested in Fab 34 between now and the end of 2023. This brings the total investment in Fab 34 to €17 billion and our total investment in Ireland to more than €30 billion.
This is the strongest possible evidence of Intel’s deep commitment to Ireland. It is remarkable to think that the €17 billion we are investing in this 5-year period is double our total investment in Ireland over the previous 30 years.
The building of Fab 34 has supported more than 5,000 construction jobs over the past three years and provided a very welcome boost for a broad range of suppliers, contractors and transport operators at a time when the effects of COVID 19 were impacting so many aspects of the Irish economy. The new facility will also add 1,600 new Intel roles at Leixlip, bringing our total direct employment in Ireland to more than 6,500 people. Furthermore, an analysis by PwC shows that, once this latest phase of construction is complete, our presence in Ireland will contribute €2.75 billion to the economy annually.We are proud of the contribution that we are making to the community and economy here in Ireland. And as the EU seeks to double its share of global microchip production over the next decade, Intel and Ireland are positioned in the vanguard of that strategic campaign.