{"text":[[{"start":10.8,"text":"Intel will invest €5bn to expand semiconductor manufacturing in Ireland as the US chipmaker seeks to grow production of processors used in AI systems, in a boost for Europe’s ambitions to build a stronger chip industry. "}],[{"start":26.700000000000003,"text":"The company said on Monday the investment would upgrade its Leixlip facility west of Dublin, expanding current production and advancing research and development."}],[{"start":35.800000000000004,"text":"The announcement comes as demand for AI data-centre chips continues to surge, prompting semiconductor companies to increase manufacturing capacity. The EU is pursuing its Chips Act to boost manufacturing capacity in Europe and reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers of high-performance chips."}],[{"start":53.75,"text":"Intel’s executive vice-president Naga Chandrasekaran said the investment ensured “that Ireland remains at the forefront of the world’s most advanced manufacturing ecosystems, while strengthening the region’s role in the global technology landscape”."}],[{"start":67.4,"text":"Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin sees the investment as “a powerful vote of confidence in Ireland, our skills base and our position at the heart of Europe’s most advanced manufacturing ecosystem”."}],[{"start":79.85000000000001,"text":"Intel announced earlier this year it would pay more than $14bn to regain full control of its Fab-34 semiconductor plant in Ireland two years after selling it to investment group Apollo to shore up its finances. "}],[{"start":93.30000000000001,"text":"It had sold the factory for $11.2bn and will raise more than $6bn in new debt to buy back Apollo’s stake.The investment follows Intel’s 2022 decision to choose Germany for a major new plant. But last year, it cancelled the planned €30bn factory in Magdeburg. A facility in Poland was also shelved as Intel said it was seeking to “optimise its manufacturing footprint and drive greater returns on invested capital”."}],[{"start":121.45000000000002,"text":"The Irish government has since unveiled a strategy aimed at attracting semiconductor investment."}],[{"start":127.45000000000002,"text":"Intel’s share price has more than doubled in the past six months, amid a broader rally among semiconductor stocks. AI companies’ demand for computing capacity continues to outstrip supply, handing an advantage to groups such as Intel with their own production capacity. "}],[{"start":144.60000000000002,"text":"Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan has also struck key alliances with Elon Musk, who is partnering with Intel on his Terafab chipmaking project, and the Trump administration, which last year agreed a deal to take a 10 per cent stake in the company.After many had written it off little more than a year ago, Intel’s business has rebounded in large part thanks to the boom in AI agents such as Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex and OpenClaw. "}],[{"start":171.3,"text":"In recent years, the role of Intel’s central processing units — the traditional chips that sit at the heart of a PC or server — has been overshadowed by Nvidia’s graphics processing units, which continue to be the primary workhorses of AI. "}],[{"start":184.65,"text":"While GPUs are better for training AI models, more powerful CPUs are needed to co-ordinate agents working on complex tasks such as software engineering. That has driven booming sales of Intel’s CPUs, including the Xeon server CPUs that will be built in the planned facility in Ireland, while also boosting rivals including AMD and Arm. "}],[{"start":217.4,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783988821_2414.mp3"}