World’s biggest chipmaker invests in Germany
The world’s biggest chipmaker has agreed to spend $3.8 billion on a new plant in Dresden – its first factory in Europe. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is joining forces with three other European tech firms to build the $11 billion plant, with the German government investing up to €5 billion. The EU recently passed the European Chips Act, a huge subsidy package that aims to compete for investment with Biden’s CHIPS Act and double the bloc’s semiconductor capacity by 2030. Berlin is also keen to make more chips domestically to keep its car industry competitive (it signed an agreement with US chipmaker Intel in June to build two chip-making plants in the country). Germany has been wooing TSMC since 2021, including with a trip round Dresden’s jewel-rich Green Vault museum to show off the city’s history of craftsmanship.
Photograph: Alamy