BERLIN, June 11 — Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner is refusing Intel’s demands for higher subsidies for a €17 billion (RM84 billion) chip plant, saying the country could not afford it, the Financial Times reported today.

"There is no more money available in the budget,” the newspaper quoted Lindner as saying in an interview. "We are trying to consolidate the budget right now, not expand it.”

The company was due to receive €6.8 billion in government support for its fabrication plant in Germany. However, due to higher energy and construction costs, it is now demanding about €10 billion, the newspaper reported.

Intel did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment outside office hours.

The company announced last year it had picked the central German city of Magdeburg for a new chip-making complex as a part of an US$88 billion investment drive across Europe, which included boosting a factory in Ireland, a packaging and assembly site in Italy and setting up a design and research facility in France.

Intel is among several chipmakers, including Taiwan’s TSMC and Wolfspeed of the US, seeking government funding to build a factories in Europe. — Reuters