Silicon Box to pick Piedmont for $3.4 bln Italian chip plant, sources say
Singapore firm announced Italian plant in March
At least three Italian regions competed to host plant
Selected site expected to be announced next week
By Elvira Pollina and Giuseppe Fonte
MILAN/ROME, June 20 (Reuters) -Singapore-based semiconductor firm Silicon Box plans to pick the town of Novara in the industrialised northwest Piedmont region as the location for its new multibillion-euro chip factory in Italy, two people close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
The three-year-old startup, created by the founders of U.S chipmaker Marvell MRVL.O, will invest 3.2 billion euros ($3.4 billion) to produce in Italy so-called "chiplets", which can be the size of a grain of sand, under a government-backed deal.
Chiplets are brought together in a process called advanced packaging, a cost-efficient way to bind small semiconductors to form one processor that can power everything from data centres to household appliances.
The project is part of long-standing Italian efforts to attract investment from technology companies, including a shelved deal with U.S. chipmaker Intel INTC.O.
Silicon Box and Italy's industry ministry announced the investment in March without saying where the plant would be located.
Asking not to be named as deliberations are not public, the sources said that Silicon Box was leaning towards picking the city of Novara from a shortlist also including two sites in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
The industry ministry declined to comment, while Silicon Box did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of the sources said Silicon Box and the industry ministry were expected to confirm the location of the plant on June 28.
At full capacity, the investment is expected to generate 1,600 new direct jobs, in addition to the indirect jobs generated both for the construction of the facility and in the wider supply and logistics ecosystem involved.
Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said in March the project had around 4 billion euros in expected operational costs spread over 15 years.
Italy has set aside almost 5 billion euros in state help to attract foreign chipmakers.
Under the EU Chips Act, public money is provided to a large extent by national governments while the vetting of projects takes place in Brussels.
French-Italian firm STMicroelectronics STMPA.PA last month won EU approval for a 5 billion-euro silicon carbide plant being built in Italy.
($1 = 0.9331 euros)
Reporting by Elvira Pollina in Milan and Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, editing by Mark Potter
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
