On the occasion of the Choose France summit, organized under the aegis of the Elysée, the Stmicroelectronics and Globalfoundries tandem announces a major investment of 5.7 billion euros in semiconductors.
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In Bercy, we do not hide his satisfaction. While on July 11, the Choose France summit opens on July 11, an annual meeting dedicated since 2018 to the attractiveness of France, the most important announcement of this 2022 edition was negotiated by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. It consists of a joint investment of the French Stmicroelectronics and the American Globalfoundries for an amount of 5.7 billion euros, with the key a thousand direct jobs and even more indirect jobs. Ultimately, in 2026, this should allow the Crolles (Isère) site to double its production capacity of electronic components, to go from 550,000 pieces to 1.2 million. In this case the FD-SOI components, with low energy consumption, particularly useful in mobility situations.
Negotiations have been continuing for several months. “This is one of the hardest negotiations I have ever had to carry out,” explains the Mayor, who believes that this is the “most strategic investment in France since that on nuclear power : Without semiconductors, there is no industry in the twentieth e century “. The idea is not only to increase production, but also in the future to produce components below 10 nanometers. A technology not developed in France, at the risk of dependence on other nations.
To achieve his ends, the tenant of Bercy has multiplied the meetings with the management of Globalfoundries, including in the United States, and Tom Caufield, CEO of the American company, was even received by the president of The Republic, Emmanuel Macron, who also involved in this file. Discussions that have remained secret for almost two years. With the crisis linked to the COVID-19, and the shortages that have entered, the semiconductors, particularly important in the automobile and aeronautics, were identified as a strategic sector. A time, discussions were also carried out with Intel, without them ending. The company finally preferred Germany to France for its European site.
In the Stmicroelectronics-Globalfoundries file, the competition was also tough between European states, but the aid provided by France, especially with the France 2030 plan, finally convinced the American group.
Foot change
On the side of the executive we assume the change of foot from the Choose France summit. In its early days, the event honored large digital companies (Google, Facebook). Today, “there is a reorientation towards industrial sovereignty”, admits the mayor, who estimates that now France is, with Germany, the other heavy goods vehicle in Europe.
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