When European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen came to Dresden on August 20 for the groundbreaking ceremony of a new chipmaking factory she brought a gift of €5 billion ($5.58 billion) with her.

It wasn't actually a gift or even EU money. What she had done in the early morning hours was approve subsidies from the German government for the project.

It was the official go-ahead needed for a massive project, part of Germany's goal of building up its own chipmaking industry. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was also at the groundbreaking, was glad to accept.

The new factory is expected to employ 2,000 people and be up and running by 2027. The project is a joint venture of ESMC (European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) with partners Bosch, Infineon and NXP.

The impulse behind the deal is Taiwan-based TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker in the world. This is the company's first foray in Europe.

The new €10 billion factory will be built next to German engineering company Bosch and facilities of Germany's largest semiconductor manufacturer Infineon in what many call Silicon Saxony.

Silicon Saxony is a region encompassing a 100-kilometer (62-mile) radius around Dresden, the capital of the regional German state of Saxony. After some bumpy times, for the past 15 years the region has been on an upward trajectory.

Today, this high-tech cluster is home to 3,600 companies working in microelectronics, software or as suppliers to these businesses. These companies employ around 81,000 people, a third of which are women.

Continued growth puts the industry on track for 100,000 workers by........

© Deutsche Welle