Traffic light maintains billions in subsidies for chip factories in eastern Germany

Despite the budget crisis, the traffic light government is sticking to billions in subsidies for industrial projects in eastern Germany, including Intel's chip factories near Magdeburg and TSMC near Dresden. This was confirmed by Michael Kellner, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, to the German Press Agency.

"The agreement reached by the traffic light is good for eastern Germany," said Kellner. "The investments for the transformation projects are secured. We are securing our future economic strength with these funds. Our entire country will benefit from this, people and SMEs alike." Previously, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had announced an agreement in the budget dispute.

The US manufacturer Intel is planning to build a new chip factory near Magdeburg. The investment amounts to around 30 billion euros, with the state intending to contribute around ten billion euros. The Taiwanese company TSMC is planning a semiconductor factory in Dresden with an investment volume of more than ten billion euros. The state subsidy here is expected to be around five billion euros.

In both cases, thousands of jobs are to be created. At the same time, the German government is hoping for more strategic independence if computer chips are manufactured in Europe instead of being imported from Asia.