What’s next for Intel’s gigafactory in Poland? This is a long-awaited move by the government. “We implement”

In June 2023, the Law and Justice government signed a contract with Intel to build a semiconductor gigafactory. According to initial assumptions, the investment is to be worth almost PLN 20 billion, and of this amount, Poland is to transfer PLN 6 billion to Intel as public aid. The factory would ultimately employ 6,000 people (initially 2,000), mainly Poles.

According to the original assumptions, construction of the plant was to start in the first quarter of this year. The problem is that the government has still not submitted to the European Commission an application (notification) for consent to co-finance the investment of the American giant.

Such an attempt was made twice. In November 2023, the application was prepared by the then Minister of Digitization, Janusz Cieszyński, but it was not signed by the Prime Minister. The second attempt took place in December, when Mateusz Morawiecki’s “two-week” government was in operation, but even then the government failed to close this issue.

The issue of notification to the European Commission was therefore inherited by the new government of Donald Tusk. But he was also in no hurry to send it. At the beginning of the week, “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna” reported that, as “DGP” informants claimed, Tusk’s government would like to convince Intel to make broader declarations, primarily to undertake “greater involvement in Polish science” as part of the concluded contract.

Intel factory near Wrocław. There is an important move by the government

However, everything indicates that Intel’s major investment has finally gained momentum. On Friday, the Ministry of Digital Affairs announced that it had sent a pre-notification to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection regarding its intention to provide public aid to Intel in connection with the planned investment in the construction of a semiconductor factory in the Miękinia commune near Wrocław.

We are consistently implementing a process that will result in one of the largest foreign investments in Poland related to key technologies. After Intel submitted information about the project to PAIiH, we submitted a pre-notification application to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection about the intention to grant state aid.

– said Dariusz Standerski, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Digitization. As the ministry explains, the aid will be paid provided that the Commission issues a decision authorizing the granting of aid or after the deadline by which the EC should have made a decision, or a conditional decision allowing the granting of aid, accepted by Intel, is issued.

Pre-notification is a procedure in matters relating to state aid. In the case of aid for Intel (individual aid), the pre-notification procedure will be conducted between Poland, the European Commission and Intel. During this time, the parties to the proceedings have the opportunity to informally and confidentially discuss the legal and economic aspects of the aid project

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Intel is currently the second largest manufacturer of integrated circuits in the world (after Taiwanese TSM). For several decades, the company has also been creating extremely popular x86 processors that power millions of computers. Intel’s revenues in the third quarter of 2023 amounted to USD 14.2 billion (a decrease of 8% y/y), and net profit – USD 297 million (a decrease of as much as 70.8%).