German Dream of Becoming a Global Chip Superpower Is Fading Fast
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s aim to recast Europe’s largest economy with semiconductor subsidies is foundering after Intel’s big project went awry.
The aspiration to turn Germany into a semiconductor superpower now looks increasingly hopeless.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A vast empty field in Germany’s depressed east is where, for a moment, Olaf Scholz’s ambition to create a lasting economic legacy looked unstoppable.
It was on that plot outside Dresden that the chancellor, wielding a shovel, broke ground for a large plant of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on a hot day in August. He rushed to start digging first, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other dignitaries.