Intel wants to build in Magdeburg and could then also supply Volkswagen in neighboring Wolfsburg.
(Photo: dpa)
Wolfsburg, Munich Nothing works anymore: At Volkswagen, the production lines regularly stand still because there are no chips. The car manufacturer therefore sees the billions invested by the semiconductor manufacturer Intel in Magdeburg as an opportunity to avoid supply bottlenecks in the future.
Volkswagen Purchasing Director Murat Aksel confirmed contacts with Intel boss Pat Gelsinger to the Handelsblatt. “It could be that we get chips from Magdeburg,” said the manager at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.
Intel announced last week that it would invest 17 billion euros in two new plants in the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt. They are scheduled to start series production in 2027. The second largest chip company in the world not only wants to produce on the Elbe for its own needs, but also to work as a contract manufacturer.
With Volkswagen, a potential major customer is just an hour’s drive away. Both cities are closely connected by roads, rails and canals. Group boss Herbert Diess announced last year that the Wolfsburg car manufacturer wanted to focus more on the chip business. Although Volkswagen will not manufacture the components itself, it plans to get involved in development and design.
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VW is thus acquiring the know-how to negotiate on an equal footing with the chip manufacturers and to formulate its own requirements for the semiconductors that will be required in the future. About three times as many chips are needed in new electric vehicles as in traditional models with internal combustion engines.
VW doesn’t just want to rely on large suppliers
In the future, Volkswagen wants to speak directly to suppliers further down the supply chain, such as Intel. That is one of the lessons from the chip crisis, it is said in Wolfsburg. Relying solely on first-tier suppliers, such as supplier groups such as Bosch and Continental, as in the past, is no longer enough.
“We are changing from pure buyers to network managers,” said Board Member for Purchasing Aksel. The automaker will take care of the entire supply chain in the future. Volkswagen accepts that this involves higher costs. “It’s not cost-optimal, but security of supply comes first.”
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Germany’s largest chip manufacturer, Infineon, is another possible customer of the Intel works in Magdeburg. CEO Reinhard Ploss told the Handelsblatt that initial contacts have been made and that he could imagine having the US group produce in the future. “We said that we are open and interested, but in the end it just has to suit us.”
Ploss emphasized that the sophisticated production processes currently offered by Intel are not suitable for Infineon. However, that could change in the next few years if the Munich-based company uses more advanced processes.
Intel is already campaigning intensively for German customers. “We want to offer customers in the region a resilient supply chain,” Randhir Thakur, head of Intel Foundry Services, told Handelsblatt. Currently, 80 percent of all chips worldwide come from Asia. However, the contract manufacturers in the Far East are overloaded, resulting in massive delays in delivery.
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