In the course of the brutal Russian attack on Ukraine, the word “turning point” is often heard.
Similar vocabulary is appropriate for the decision of the American manufacturer Intel to make Europe a global center for computer chips.
Because it is a paradigm shift not only in German economic policy when EU countries are now subsidizing the development and manufacture of semiconductors on their own doorstep with billions, without which not much works today.
From the food processor to modern war machines, the dependency on the small building blocks is enormous.
Until recently, local manufacturers of cars and machines still assumed that chips were mass-produced goods that were freely available on the world market and that, following the logic of the international division of labor, they were produced most cheaply in Asia.
Then the corona pandemic shattered supply chains that had worked well until then and painfully revealed how vulnerable the final production "Made in Germany" actually is.
Since then, a rethink has set in in Western corporations: Unlimited cost optimization was yesterday.
In view of growing geopolitical tensions, there is a growing willingness to pay a premium for security of supply for important components.
But independence comes at a price, and a complete failure would be even more expensive.
In Magdeburg, the largest single investment in Saxony-Anhalt at 17 billion euros and one of the largest in German history can now be celebrated.
If Intel's plan works, the city will become the center of a network that is intended to promote the resurgence of the European chip industry.
The fact that an American company is needed to breathe life into the European Commission's Chips Act says a lot about Europe's current competitiveness.