Intel CEO says Italy 'still in the game' for fab but so are other countries
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For months, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has been in negotiations with Italy to build a fab in the country as part of its plan to invest $77.5B in Europe over the next decade.
On Friday, Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger may have tweaked that plan as he told an Italian newspaper the country is "still in the game" for the upcoming fab, but so are others.
"Italy is still in the game, but so are other candidate countries," Gelsinger said in a translated interview with Il Corriere della Sera. "We are trying to see where. We'll decide within the year."
Intel (INTC) shares were fractionally lower in early Friday trade.
Gelsinger also confirmed to the news outlet that he had spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He also spoke with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar the news outlet added and may have spoken to the leaders of Spain and Poland, Pedro Sanchez and Andrzej Duda, countries that are also in the running for the fab.
Last month, Meloni said she would meet with Intel (INTC) to coordinate the semiconductor giant's investment in the country as it looks to expand its global presence.
"In the coming days I'll seek to schedule a meeting, to ask Intel what we can do to facilitate their investment in Italy, which I think is highly strategic," Meloni said at the time. 
In August, it was reported that Italy was close to signing a deal that could be worth $5B initially with the Italian government to build a packaging and assembly plant in the country.
At the time, the government of former Prime Minister Mario Draghi hoped to have an agreement by the end of August, but that did not happen.
One month later, it was reported that Intel (INTC) had picked the town of Vigasio in the Italian region Veneto, roughly 70 miles west of Venice, for its new multi-billion dollar chip factory in the European country.
Vigasio was reportedly picked as it is close to Germany, where Intel (INTC) is slated to build two factories. Piedmont, Lombardy, Apulia and Sicily were also considered as potential locales for the plant.
The new factory is expected to start producing chips between 2025 and 2027 and is slated to be an advanced semiconductor packaging and assembly plant.
Intel (INTC) was recently listed as one of investment firm UBS's top semiconductor stocks for 2023.