Intel unveils €30bn European chip push | SpaceX launches multi-million dollar satellite to boost connectivity in Indonesia

Intel injects €30bn in European chip expansion

Intel is set to spend over €30 billion to develop two chip factories in Magdeburg, Germany as part of an expansion in Europe.

Berlin has agreed to subsidies worth nearly €10bn with the investment hailed Germany’s largest ever foreign investment.

Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger said he was grateful to the Government and the state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Magdeburg is located, for “fulfilling the vision of a vibrant, sustainable, leading-edge semiconductor industry in Germany and the EU”.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/business/intel-spends-33-billion-dollars-in-germany-in-landmark-expansion-16977051.htm

Google in talks with suppliers to relocate Pixel production to India

Google is in early talks with domestic suppliers to move some production of its Pixel smartphone to India, Bloomberg News has reported. The discussions come as tech giants across the world are eyeing India as a manufacturing hub, in place of China, including most recently Apple supplier Foxconn.

Google has reportedly spoken to Lava International, Dixon Technologies India and Foxconn Technology Group’s Indian unit Bharat FIH.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-06-20/google-seeks-suppliers-to-move-pixel-production-to-india-et-now-citing-agencies

Indonesia, SpaceX launch satellite to boost internet connectivity

Indonesia has partnered with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch the country’s biggest telecommunication satellite, costing over half a million dollars.

Senior Indonesian minister Mahfud MD said that connectivity is fairly scarce in the underdeveloped eastern islands and added that satellite technology will “accelerate internet access to villages in areas that cannot be reached by fibre optics in the next 10 years.”

The 4.5-tonne Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia (SATRIA-1) – deployed from Florida by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket – will occupy the orbital slot above Indonesia’s eastern Papua region. It has a throughput capacity of 150 gigabytes per second and will provide internet access to 50,000 public service points.

https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/indonesia-spacex-launch-satellite-to-boost-internet-connectivity-8672782/

Adobe-Figma $20 billion deal under threat from EU investigation

EU watchdogs are preparing to launch a formal probe into the Adobe-Figma deal which could take up to several months, the Financial Times reported.

Some regulators have criticised the deal as a “killer acquisition” due to Figma being a direct competitor to Adobe. However, Adobe claims its buyout will not harm competition as it is not a direct competitor to any of its mainline products.

The investigation follows both the UK  Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and US regulators, who announced it was inspecting the deal earlier this year, which, if reaches completion, will be one of the largest acquisitions of a private tech start-up in history.

https://www.verdict.co.uk/adobes-20bn-acquisition-of-figma-under-threat-by-eu-watchdog/