NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A decision by U.S. chipmaker Wolfspeed to shelve plans to build a production site in the German state of Saarland frees up funds, but the German economy minister is not happy about this, he said on Thursday.
“This was associated with great hopes for Saarland,” Robert Habeck said of the now-shelved plans, speaking during a visit to New Delhi for a regional business conference.
Wolfspeed said on Wednesday it had dropped the plan to build a semiconductor factory in Ensdorf in the south-western state due to slower electric vehicle adoption in Europe.
The move was a blow to Germany’s push to boost its attractiveness as a business location and to scale up local production of key technologies.
He lamented the company’s decision, adding: “We need our own sovereignty in the production of semiconductors.”
($1 = 0.9259 euros)
(This story has been officially corrected to remove the 2 billion euro figure in paragraph 1, and to clarify that the ministry said nothing conclusive about funding)
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Writing by Rachel More and Emma-Victoria Farr; editing by Matthias Williams, Elaine Hardcastle)
