Intel wanted to build a huge factory for processors in Germany, but now soil and the Stone Age are causing problems

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Intel is one of the largest chip manufacturers alongside AMD and Nvidia. The company wanted to expand and build a large factory in Germany. But now everything is being delayed. It’s not just the soil that’s causing problems, but also a discovery from the Stone Age.

In 2022, Intel had plans to build a new chip factory in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt). But the first problems started before construction could even begin:

  • Intel wanted money from the German government and had already been granted billions. But a request to increase the original investment from 6.8 billion to 10 billion euros was rejected by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).
  • During a mandatory archaeological investigation, a large Neolithic burial site was also discovered in the construction area. Neolithic refers to the New Stone Age, so the ruins are more than ten thousand years old.

    • But the difficulties for the major project seem to be never-ending. Now the ground is also not ideal for the factory. This is what our British colleagues at PCGamer are reporting, in agreement with a German regional newspaper.

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    Magdeburg soil is too soft for a large Intel chip factory

    What is the problem with the floor? As the German daily newspaper Volksstimme (behind paywall) reports, Intel wanted to finally start construction in a few months and to do so would have to remove the soil. A test has since shown that the site contains more black earth than expected.

    Black earth is one of the most fertile soils in the world and is therefore used intensively in agriculture. But black earth also has a disadvantage: it is very soft and permeable. Normally, layers of black earth are about 40 cm deep in the Magdeburg region, but Intel has found a building site where the black earth layer is said to be up to 90 cm deep.

    The problem: Due to the soft and loose nature of the soil, the engineers cannot build on it. With such large amounts of black earth, the factory would sink and be permanently at risk.

    For this reason, Intel will have to postpone its construction plans again. It is now likely that construction of the new chip factory will not begin until 2025 at the earliest, unless something else comes up.

    New competition for Intel: In recent years, Nvidia has had great success with its focus on AI. But there are other competitors lurking in the AI ​​field that are eyeing market share. And these are mainly smaller companies that you have probably never heard of: Forget Intel and AMD: Nvidia’s next opponent could be a company you have never heard of

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