The business daily Handelsblatt reported that the factory requires 10 billion euros of government funding.
The Germans thought that the 6.8 billion euros would be more than enough for Intel to build the plant, but now it appears that Intel wants more than four billion more due to "higher energy costs" and that it would like to use a more "advanced technology in the plant."
Intel is involved in some tricky talking with the Germans and it is unclear if the original deal might be scrapped if more money is not forthcoming.
It would have been better for Germany to build its own chip factory without relying on the Americans, that way would not have to put up with extra demands like this. Still, the Germans have not been themselves lately. They thought they would be perfectly safe if they put all their energy worries in the hands of that nice Mr. Putin, and now they think Intel will solve any chip shortage issues they might have.