ROME (Reuters) -Singapore-based semiconductor firm Silicon Box will invest 3.2 billion euros ($3.50 billion) in a new plant in northern Italy under a government-backed deal, the Italian industry ministry said on Monday.
The exact site for the plant has yet to be decided with several locations available and Rome will also need European Commission’s approval for planned financial aid, which the ministry said it expected to receive soon.
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.
($1 = 0.9146 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Giulia Segreti, Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski)