The German government is seeking to recoup the €10 billion ($10.7bn) it awarded to Intel in subsidies for the chipmaker’s now delayed Magdeburg fab.

The funding originated from Germany’s Climate and Transformation fund however, since Intel announced it would be delaying construction at the €30 billion ($33bn) fab until the end of the decade, government ministers are now in discussions about how the money should be otherwise spent.

According to a report from HardwareLuxx, German finance minister Christian Lindner has proposed that the funding be reallocated, while economic affairs minister Robert Habeck wants the funding to remain within his department’s budget to support economic growth and climate initiatives, as originally intended.

Before announcing the delay, Intel was set to receive an initial €3.96 billion in funding for 2024. Although the official line is that the company has just pressed pause on the Magdeburg fab, the chipmaker’s ongoing financial woes have led some to believe there’s a chance Intel will ultimately scrap the facility altogether.

In September, after Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced the delay, Alexander Schiersch of the German Institute for Economic Research told German news outlet Deutsche Welle that the chances of the company seeing the project through were no more than 50 percent.

The delay was a result of Intel’s disastrous Q2 2024, which saw the company report $1.6 billion in losses and announce a $10bn cost cutting plan.

Last week the company posted a $16.6 billion loss in Q3 2024, the largest quarterly loss ever recorded by the chip maker. However, despite the record-breaking loss, the company’s shares rose after the results were published as the $13.38 billion in revenue reported by the company beat estimates.