EC grants $361M in aid for AMD's Dresden fab upgrades

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 7/18/2007

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has gotten the green light -- and a healthy amount of financial support -- from European authorities to upgrade its Eastern Germany-based wafer fabs.

The European Commission (EC) today announced that it has authorized $361 million (262 million Euros) in aid, which the German authorities intend to grant to AMD for the conversion and extension of its existing micro-processor wafer plants in Dresden, the capital city of the German state of Saxony..  

Last year, AMD announced plans to transform the existing 200mm Fab 30 in Dresden into a 300mm facility, and rename it Fab 38. In addition, AMD said it will also expand its Dresden-based Fab 36's existing 300mm capacity and build a new clean room facility to handle the site's growing bump and test requirements.

According to the latest data from the State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labor, the state of Saxony's unemployment rate was at 15.7 percent as of April 2007. The project intends to create about 565 additional jobs in the area.

In a statement issued today by the EC, the Commission said that AMD's planned investment of around $3 billion (2.2 billion Euros) into the fab upgrades will "significantly contribute to the further regional development of Saxony."

"I am pleased to approve aid for an important investment project in a high-tech sector, which will contribute to regional development and job creation in a disadvantaged region of Germany," EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.