Intel

Intel cancelled its planned €30bn megafab in Magdeburg, Germany, in September 2024, dealing a significant blow to European semiconductor ambitions. The company cited a sustained slump in demand and its own financial difficulties, having posted a $1.6bn loss in Q2 2024, its worst quarterly result in decades. The withdrawal triggered a public row with the German government, which had committed €10bn in state aid to attract the plant, and Left the EU Chips Act's 20% production-share target without its single largest contributor .

Founded in 1968 in Mountain View, California, Intel grew to dominate the global CPU market with its x86 architecture and remains one of the world's largest chipmakers by revenue, generating $54bn in 2023. Under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over in 2024, the company is attempting to revive its fortunes by refocusing on manufacturing competitiveness and foundry services.

Magdeburg's cancellation was named a primary driver of the EU's widening chip production gap in the Commission's 17 June 2026 Digital Decade Progress Scorecard, which placed Europe's global chip-production share at 9% against a 20% target for 2030 . The episode is now cited alongside GlobalFoundries' Crolles suspension as evidence that Europe's semiconductor strategy relied on private capital commitments that proved fragile under shareholder pressure.