Global News Desk:
Silicon Box, a semiconductor
company based in Singapore, is set to invest 3.2 billion euros ($3.50 billion)
in a new facility in northern Italy through a government-backed agreement, as
announced by the Italian industry ministry on Monday. The specific location for
the plant is pending, with multiple options under consideration. Additionally,
Rome anticipates securing approval from the European Commission for the
proposed financial assistance, which the ministry foresees obtaining shortly.
The project is part of
long-standing Italian efforts to attract investment from technology companies,
which have also included a never-finalised deal with U.S. firm Intel.
"At full capacity, the
investment will be able 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 when fully operational," the
ministry said in a statement.
Industry Minister Adolfo Urso
said the project had around 4 billion euros in expected operational costs
spread over 15 years. The almost three-year-old startup, created by the
founders of U.S chipmaker Marvell, will produce in Italy the so-called
"chiplets", which can be the size of a grain of sand.
These 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.
