Silicon Box: Invitalia gives the go-ahead for a 3.2 billion investment in Novara
The project will receive 1.3 billion in public funding; the aim is to speed up the authorisation process so that work can begin in the spring
The Board of Directors of Invitalia has given the go-ahead for funding for Silicon Box project in the city of Novara. “Vulcan Project” – the name given to the 3.2 billion euro plan – involves the construction, on a site on the outskirts of the city, of Europe’s first next-generation microchip factory for the Singapore-based company.
The resolution approved by Invitalia provides for €1.3 billion in public support through the sector-specific fund established under the European Chips Act, “making it one of the most significant initiatives to attract foreign investment to Italia”, as highlighted in a statement from the Piedmont Region.
This brings to a close the preliminary phase, carried out in accordance with the procedures set out in the Development Agreement, signed last March by the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, Invitalia and the company, with the active involvement of the Piedmont Region and the Government’s Special Commissioner for the investment programme, Alessandro Canelli, Mayor of Novara.
‘With this investment, Italia is consolidating its role as a manufacturing hub for the digital economy and strengthening its technological and industrial sovereignty, helping to make the European semiconductor supply chain more robust and resilient. This is a significant achievement, the result of excellent teamwork, which will bring Europe’s first chiplet production facility to Novara and establish the region as a new hub for emerging technologies. Italia has regained its appeal and is now capable of attracting the interest of the world’s leading technology players,” Minister Urso emphasised.
For the President of Piedmont, Alberto Cirio, “the arrival of Silicon Box confirms Piedmont’s strategic role as a major industrial and innovation hub, capable of attracting international investment and creating new opportunities for skilled employment”. Once fully operational, the project is expected to create 1,600 jobs and will strengthen Italia’s semiconductor supply chain.
