At some point, 10,000 jobs are to be created in the planned chip factory in Magdeburg.
(Photo: Reuters)
The subsidy race between the US and Europe for green technologies not only leads to a loss of prosperity on both sides, it is also crazy. The US company Intel now considers federal subsidies of almost ten billion euros to be necessary for its planned chip production plants in Magdeburg. Around 10,000 jobs are to be created at some point. That’s one million euros per job.
It is of course right to reduce dependence on China in this area. A delivery stop would result in serious economic difficulties. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economics Minister Robert Habeck recently traveled to Saarland to announce the location of a new semiconductor factory for the US group Wolfspeed and its German partner ZF.
There’s a fair in heaven
But every deal has to pay off economically. Even though we’ve gotten used to the massive billions of double-booms and bazookas. It’s worth stopping for a moment. Blackmail would be too harsh a word. However, with market economy that nothing more to do.
Corporations like Intel apparently have the impression that there is a fair in heaven and that they can call up any price given the government’s subsidy frenzy because there are no alternatives. Quite apart from the fact that it is not at all clear whether the chips from Magdeburg could be used primarily in Germany and not primarily on the world market.
But no matter how wrong a policy of having no alternatives has always been. The federal government should consider what else it could do with 10 billion euros in tax money.
>> Read here: Chip factory in Magdeburg: Intel considers almost ten billion euros in subsidies to be necessary
As a reminder: During the Corona crisis, five billion euros were made available for the digitization of all schools in Germany in order to end the Cretaceous period. With half the money for Intel, a revolution in the German school landscape would be possible.
Just imagine if politicians would put all the money into vocational training in the trades or research funding in medium-sized companies. What a boost for prosperity in Germany that would be. Chancellor Scholz said in his government statement: A subsidy race with the USA would certainly be the wrong approach. This is especially true for the chip factory in Magdeburg.
More: Wolfspeed and ZF expect large grants