The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a €292.5 million Italian measure made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to support STMicroelectronics in the construction of a plant in the semiconductor value chain in Catania, Sicily.
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The measure will strengthen Europe's security of supply, resilience and digital sovereignty in semiconductor technologies, in line with the ambitions set out in the European Chips Act Communication. The measure will also contribute to achieving both the digital and green transition.
The measure notified by Italy will be funded by the RRF, following the Commission's positive assessment of Italy's Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council.
The aid will take the form of a €292.5 million direct grant to support STMicroelectronics' €730 million investment for the construction of a Silicon Carbide (‘SiC') wafer plant in Catania.
SiC is a compound material used to manufacture wafers that serve as a base for specific microchips used in high-performance power devices, such as in electric vehicles, fast-charging stations, renewable energies and other industrial applications.
The project, which is planned to be completed in 2026, will be the first industrial scale, integrated epitaxy SiC wafers production line in Europe. It will integrate in the same production facility the whole SiC substrate value chain, namely from the production of the raw material (‘SiC powder') to the manufacturing of the SiC wafers.
The SiC wafers will be ready for further use as a result of an additional treatment process at the facility, in which a specific epitaxial layer is applied to the SiC wafers, enhancing their technical capabilities (so-called ‘SiC epiwafers').
Under the measure, STMicroelectronics agreed to satisfy EU priority rated orders in the case of a supply shortage, invest in the development of next generation of microchips, and continue contributing to the strengthening of the European semiconductor ecosystem. ■