Intel Ireland must be in a bit of a grump this week, having learned that the European Commission is allowing a huge grant to its main competitor to help it to expand in Germany.
The €262 million grant to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is coming directly from Angela Merkel's purse and is thus your perfect example of old-fashioned state aid.
EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said she was pleased to allow the aid, which she noted was going to a "disadvantaged" region of the country.
While leafy Leixlip can hardly be described in the same terms, the AMD grant nonetheless bears a remarkable resemblance to the Government's proposed €170 million grant to Intel in 2005. That proposal, aimed at securing the chipmaker's expansion in the Republic, was eventually withdrawn after the commission indicated that it would not allow it.
Ibec suggests that the AMD grant begs a question about the commission's consistency in making decisions. Intel might not make the same point in such gentle language.
