5 ms·

I agree, though UK governments have been historically very willing to give tax breaks etc to encourage these things (Sony in Wales for instance). I'd assume th

I agree, though UK governments have been historically very willing to give tax breaks etc to encourage these things (Sony in Wales for instance). I'd assume that would be the counter to your points...

dogma1138 5y ago
Yeah Intel has built fabs in Israel and although it does have a very large and arguably very successful development center there it’s also a chicken and the egg so if you build it they will come… I can’t see a situation in which the UK couldn’t have made a sufficiently enticing proposition when it comes to pure commercials. That said I think the main factor here is that Intel is afraid of a protectionist EU policy as far as manufacturing IP goes with ASML being a Dutch company it puts the entire semi industry at the mercy of the EU if they do decide to push for a protectionist regime to bring back manufacturing closer to home. Many other European companies also play a key role in the industry such as Philips (a lot of material engineering and manufacturing techniques) and Carl Zeiss (who makes the extremely specialized lenses and optical assemblies for lithography particularly for UV processes). So whilst the EU doesn’t have manufacturing capacity especially when it comes to leading nodes they are in a better position to half the global production of advanced semi conductors and ICs than anyone else really.
- cik 5y ago
  Intel's just expanded their investment by $10B in Kiryat Gat. It's even strategically close to the plant in Arad.
intricatedetail 5y ago
Currently UK has a massive tax on specialised workforce - you can easily pay more than 50% tax. They changed IR35 so that risk averse companies only hire in scope of rules to avoid potential costly investigation. Current UK market is very hostile.
- LatteLazy 5y ago
  Very true. I am caught by IR35 myself.
  - Silhouette 5y ago
    I'm really not sure what Sunak was thinking pushing that through in the current climate. A degree of flexible labour in the workforce is helpful anyway and never more so than with the recovery from multiple economic shocks in the past five years. So let's change the rules so lots of the former freelancers and contractors go permanent and lots of the former clients of those freelancers and contractors have to commit to hiring permanent staff, with all the baggage for both sides that comes with under the UK's employment rules, because the new IR35 rules make even less sense than the old ones and everyone from lorry drivers to software developers is questioning whether it makes sense to work under them at all. Full disclosure: I sometimes work in that sort of environment, so I may be personally affected by the changes at some point, but economically I don't see how it makes any sense at all anyway.
    - dogma1138 5y ago
      That it would be a massive boon to Infosys and TCS…
    - Lio 5y ago
      What was Rishi Sunak thinking? Well his father-in-law is N. R. Narayana Murthy so he was probably thinking the IR35 rule changes were pretty good for Unisys. <cough> conflictofinterests <cough> I mean he’d probably deny he was in favour of moving British jobs off shore but that is what his in-law’s family business is all about so…
      - intricatedetail 5y ago
        It's worse than you think. His father in law is more involved with Jeff Bezos. Rishi wife is a major shareholder of Infosys actually - over £600 million worth of shares currently.

dogma1138 5y ago

Yeah Intel has built fabs in Israel and although it does have a very large and arguably very successful development center there it’s also a chicken and the egg so if you build it they will come… I can’t see a situation in which the UK couldn’t have made a sufficiently enticing proposition when it comes to pure commercials. That said I think the main factor here is that Intel is afraid of a protectionist EU policy as far as manufacturing IP goes with ASML being a Dutch company it puts the entire semi industry at the mercy of the EU if they do decide to push for a protectionist regime to bring back manufacturing closer to home. Many other European companies also play a key role in the industry such as Philips (a lot of material engineering and manufacturing techniques) and Carl Zeiss (who makes the extremely specialized lenses and optical assemblies for lithography particularly for UV processes). So whilst the EU doesn’t have manufacturing capacity especially when it comes to leading nodes they are in a better position to half the global production of advanced semi conductors and ICs than anyone else really.

cik 5y ago
Intel's just expanded their investment by $10B in Kiryat Gat. It's even strategically close to the plant in Arad.

intricatedetail 5y ago

Currently UK has a massive tax on specialised workforce - you can easily pay more than 50% tax. They changed IR35 so that risk averse companies only hire in scope of rules to avoid potential costly investigation. Current UK market is very hostile.

LatteLazy 5y ago
Very true. I am caught by IR35 myself.
- Silhouette 5y ago
  I'm really not sure what Sunak was thinking pushing that through in the current climate. A degree of flexible labour in the workforce is helpful anyway and never more so than with the recovery from multiple economic shocks in the past five years. So let's change the rules so lots of the former freelancers and contractors go permanent and lots of the former clients of those freelancers and contractors have to commit to hiring permanent staff, with all the baggage for both sides that comes with under the UK's employment rules, because the new IR35 rules make even less sense than the old ones and everyone from lorry drivers to software developers is questioning whether it makes sense to work under them at all. Full disclosure: I sometimes work in that sort of environment, so I may be personally affected by the changes at some point, but economically I don't see how it makes any sense at all anyway.
  - dogma1138 5y ago
    That it would be a massive boon to Infosys and TCS…
  - Lio 5y ago
    What was Rishi Sunak thinking? Well his father-in-law is N. R. Narayana Murthy so he was probably thinking the IR35 rule changes were pretty good for Unisys. <cough> conflictofinterests <cough> I mean he’d probably deny he was in favour of moving British jobs off shore but that is what his in-law’s family business is all about so…
    - intricatedetail 5y ago
      It's worse than you think. His father in law is more involved with Jeff Bezos. Rishi wife is a major shareholder of Infosys actually - over £600 million worth of shares currently.