Public Funding Last Hope For Chip Plant

The project to build a massive computer chip factory in eastern Germany could collapse unless public funding is brought in to supplement the lack of other investments by major partners in the project, according to government officials. Ulrich Junghanns, the minister of economics for Brandenburg, the German state where the chip plant is currently under construction, warned on Thursday that the site was in more serious peril than first thought. The transfer of too little money from investors such as the Arab emirate of Dubai and computer company Intel could force the state to act as guarantors until more investors’ funds were made available. The alternative would be to scrap the €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) project in the town of Frankfurt/Oder near the German-Polish border. People there have seen the project as a glimpse of hope for new jobs in their region, which continues to struggle with some of Germany’s highest unemployment rates.