Wednesday, 12 December 2012 10:28
EU needs to back chipmaking better, says GloFo
Written by Nick Farrell
This Arab cash only goes so far
GlobalFoundries' chief executive has said that European governments should offer incentives to build multibillion-dollar advanced manufacturing plants.
Ajit Manocha said that this will keep Asia from reaping the benefits of European innovations. Manocha said he has tried to convince policymakers to invest more to stimulate chip manufacturing in Europe so that the region can match what is happening in the US and Asia.
Local governments in the United States as well as countries in Asia have offered incentives to chipmakers as they plan where to build a new generation of fabrication plants, or fabs, expected to cost over $10 billion each. Manocha said that if he goes to Asia, they will roll out the red carpet for us, they'll do lots of subsidies. The State of New York also does a good job.
Europe apparently just has a regionally appointed rude French person to say “Non” all the time it is starting to hack Manocha off. It is not just GloFlo who would benefit. If the EU pulled finger on funding, it could score more business from Intel which has a fab in Germany and STMicroelectronics.
He admits that the advanced fabs provide relatively few jobs but the ones they do provide pay well. But the act of manufacturing leads to invention and new ideas that reverberate beyond the semiconductor industry.
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