IDA Ireland, Ireland’s agency responsible for attracting direct foreign investment, awarded Intel €30 million in 2023 to offset the rising costs of EU power bills due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A recent report from The Irish Times found the amount of the previously unknown sum Intel received from the Irish government as part of a larger €100 million investment into microprocessor producers in March 2023.
The IDA cleared its plans to invest €100 million into Ireland’s tech industry with the European Commission, which blamed “significant economic uncertainties, disrupted trade flows and supply chains and led to exceptionally large and unexpected price increases, especially in natural gas and electricity” caused by the Russian invasion. The payment was deemed “necessary, appropriate and proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy” by the governing body.
Ireland’s chip-making industry brings €8.7 billion in exports to Ireland annually, so the decision to subsidize some of its power costs was easy for the country to make. And with Intel claiming it contributes €2.75 billion annually to the Irish economy, Ireland is incentivized to give back heavily. Ireland provided Intel with refundable tax credits aplenty, though the total amount of these is unknown; Intel declared it received $645 million / €601 million in grants and tax credits from non-U.S. countries in 2023, though the breakdown of how much came from Ireland is unknown.
Ireland and Intel have enjoyed a strong partnership for many years, bolstered recently by Intel’s construction of its new Fab 34 on its Irish campus, which has operated since 1989. Fab 34 provides high-volume manufacturing of the Intel 4 process, the only other plant besides Intel’s Hillsboro plant doing so. The Intel 4 fabrication technology, a 7 mm process, currently only produces chiplets for Meteor Lake processors. Intel invested $22 billion / €17 billion to build the new Fab 34 facility, with $2 billion more coming soon to upgrade the fab.
titleIntel gets €30 million to pay higher EU power bills — Ireland and Intel continue a tight partnership
