"with the final investment decision pending confirmation of the level of public funding for this project. The project is planned under the framework of the European Chips Act."
It's not like there exists any small player who can even imagine building a fab like that. All the small players in semiconductors exist by doing some particular niche like design or making some tool, but all of them outsource the actual fabrication - the thing that European Chips Act wants to fund - to someone else.
What would you consider to be small players when it comes to chip production? I mean, the factories cost billions. So where would small companies play a role except as contractor, supplier, etc. for the big ones?
The small players are the equivalents of VIS (Vanguard International Semiconductor) and similar. A few million 8" wafers per year, but targeting specialty processes (GaN, MEMs, etc). Cutting-edge 12" fabs are capital-intensive, but there's a huge and growing role for older processes and specialty processes.
https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3049
"with the final investment decision pending confirmation of the level of public funding for this project. The project is planned under the framework of the European Chips Act."