EC authorises investment aid to Globalfoundies and CRS Reprocessing

Globalfoundries The Commission authorised a regional state aid package of EUR 219 million for an investment project worth approximately EUR 2 billion by Globalfoundries. The investment in the region of Dresden, Saxony, adapts the company's existing facilities to be able to produce all types of semiconductor processed wafers, as opposed to only computer microprocessors for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) at present. Dresden is eligible for regional aid, according to Article 107(3)(a) of the TFEU, as a region with an abnormally low standard of living and high unemployment. The aid project respects the specific rules for large investment projects (i.e. maximum aid amount of EUR 219 million after scaling down of the applicable regional aid ceiling of 30 %) and the beneficiary does not exceed the applicable market-shares threshold (i.e. 25% before and after the investment). The capacity created also does not exceed the relevant threshold of 5%. CRS Reprocessing In this case, Germany notified a EUR 700'000 regional investment aid to CRS Reprocessing Germany GmbH & Co. KG in order to obtain legal certainty. The aid goes toward the company's slurry reprocessing facilities, built on the solar wafer production site of Schott Solar Wafer GmbH, in Jena, Thuringia, also an area eligible for regional aid. The aid is below the applicable notification threshold but as aid had already been granted for previous investments on the same site started within three years, the investments could qualify as a 'single investment project'. The Commission found that the aid met the requirements of the guidelines without having to conclude on the single investment project issue.