Moroccan strategic Projects: news, discussions & updates

[The SC]

Since there are too many projects in Morocco to post them one by one in different threads.. it will be more interesting to post them in this general thread..

 

[The SC]

Morocco is moving towards nuclear energy

Local media reported that Morocco is working on studies it has conducted on the use of nuclear energy to provide its electricity needs, after investing in renewable energy fields.

In response to questions from members of the House of Advisors, Morocco's Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, said that her ministry "conducted an assessment of the use of nuclear energy in electricity production in 2015, and prepared a report on the subject this year in order to activate the assessment's recommendations."

The Moroccan minister indicated that the report that was prepared deals with "the fields of infrastructure necessary for the use of nuclear energy, human competencies, and the legislative aspect."

At the same time, Benali pointed out that Morocco "has accumulated an important base of knowledge and experience within the framework of the necessary preparations in order to take an informed national decision regarding the production of electricity using nuclear energy."


https://www.hespress.com/المغرب-يتوجه-نحو-الاستعانة-بالطاقة-ال-996982.html


Morocco's nuclear research reactor

 

[The SC]

Inauguration of a new line for the semiconductor industry in Morocco​

Today, a new production line for the world-leading manufacturer of electronic components, STMicroelectronics Bouskoura, was launched, which is intended to provide global electric vehicle manufacturers with cutting-edge technological products. The group has invested 2.4 billion dirhams since 2020 to expand its factory in Morocco, creating more than 700 new jobs, including 100 jobs for engineers. An achievement that will enable Morocco to strengthen its position in the value chain of the electric car industry.

The plant will produce 4 million units per day of semi-conductors. This figure will enable the Moroccan position to be strengthened in the international market for the automotive industry.

STMicroelectronics Opens New Plant for Electric Car Parts in Morocco​

The Bouskoura is now home to STMicroelectronics’ second-largest manufacturing plant in the world.

June 08, 2022

Rabat - STMicroelectronics, a French-Italian company specializing in the manufacturing of electronics and semiconductors, inaugurated today a new production line for electric parts in its plant in Bouskoura, located in the Casablanca-Settat region.

A number of high-profile officials attended the inauguration, including Morocco’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour; the Governor of the Nouaceur Province, Abdellah Chater; and the Executive Vice-President of the Back-end Technology and Manufacturing organization, Fabio Gualandris.

Under a budget cover of MAD 2.4 billion ($244 million), the STMicroelectronics new extension covers expanding the factory's current production area by 7,500 square meters, according to a press release from Morocco’s Trade and Industry Ministry.
The venture equally includes the addition of a new production line specialized in producing silicon carbide products for electric vehicles

In addition to increasing the plant’s production capacity, the project will create more than 700 jobs, including 100 engineering positions, STMicroelectronics said in a statement.

The factory extension is “a real achievement for the national electronics industry,” Ryad Mezzour, noting that the manufacturing unit is now “STMicroelectronics’ second largest plant in the world.”

The Moroccan minister added that the project “will enable Morocco to strengthen its position in the value chain of the automotive sector, as a go-to destination for cutting-edge international investments, particularly in electric mobility.”
The minister further explained that “by producing competitive electronic components of world-class quality designed by mainly Moroccan skills, Morocco is making great strides towards reaching its industrial sovereignty.”

For his part, Fabio Gualandris said that STMicroelectronics has been able to extend local operations thanks to “the support of the Ministry of Local Authorities and the National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills.”

With the new investment, the Bouskoura plant is transitioning to Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence-backed, fully digitized manufacturing.

Read Also: STMicroelectronics To Inaugurate New Tesla Production Line in Morocco

https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/20...s-new-plant-for-electric-car-parts-in-morocco

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Morocco finds on-ramp into EV manufacturing through electronic chip production for Tesla​

July 20, 2021

STMicroelectronics, one of Europe's leading semiconductor manufacturers, will very shortly inaugurate a new production line in Morocco to manufacture electronic chips for American electric car pioneer Tesla. The production line is the latest example of a larger trend among international firms to look to Morocco as an attractive location for “nearshoring.” Through Rabat's smart infrastructure investments and careful management of its foreign partnerships, Morocco has already exploited this trend to emerge as Africa's leading automaker. Now with an auto chip production line dedicated to electric vehicles (EVs), Morocco is positioning itself to become a center for EV production while turning itself into a strategic component of Western semiconductor supply chain resilience.

According to Moroccan media, STMicroelectronics will soon inaugurate an EV chip production line at the Franco-Italian company's facility in Bouskoura, an industrial town on the outskirts of Casablanca. STMicroelectronics' Bouskoura plant already began some initial production for Tesla in June 2021 with its existing lines. Morocco's EV chip production will help alleviate the critical global shortage of automotive microchips, aiding EV automakers to maintain their production schedules in the rapidly advancing electric car market.

An electronic microchip is an integrated circuit (IC) imprinted on a very small semiconductor. These semiconductor ICs, commonly called “chips,” form the fundamental components of all electronic devices and have propelled economic growth and innovation through the digitization of goods and services. Automobiles have been no exception to the trend — a typical, contemporary car employs upwards of 1,400 semiconductor chips. Engaged in IC product design, manufacture, and sales, STMicroelectronics is Europe's largest integrated device manufacturer with auto chip components accounting for 38% of its pre-COVID annual revenue.

Global supply crunch

The roll-out of 5G, which requires semiconductors of the same, larger node sizes as auto chips, compounded by the increasing use of artificial intelligence and the development of the Internet of Things, has created a surge in competing demand for chips that is putting supply pressure on automakers worldwide. The post-COVID-19 global supply crunch in chips has caused significant automotive production slowdowns. General Motors and Ford Motor, for example, expect 2021 earnings reductions of upwards of $2 billion and $2.5 billion respectively due to supply delays. The shortage has highlighted the automotive industry's dangerous dependence on Asian semiconductor manufacturers, prompting U.S. and European automakers to increase their efforts to find alternative sources of supply.

The demand pressure is being exacerbated by the growing popularity of electric passenger cars, which are on track to become the dominant form of mobility during the 2030s. Next to the electric battery itself, chips are perhaps the most vital part of an EV. Requiring significantly more chips than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, electric cars need a large number of semiconductor ICs for their battery management systems to ensure safety by regulating the electric power train as well as optimizing the energy efficiency of battery charging and use.

Morocco’s automotive industry

With the capacity to produce over 700,000 vehicles per year, Morocco has successfully positioned itself to become the hub of an Africa-to-Europe, automotive manufacturing value chain. The rise of Morocco's automotive industry is the result of the strategic integration of infrastructure investment with an industrial manufacturing chain that is now serving as the foundation of a Morocco-centered West Africa-to-Western Europe commercial corridor.

Morocco's al-Boraq high-speed rail line — the first of its kind in Africa — is the transportation backbone of Morocco's Africa-to-Europe value chain. With the 2018 inauguration of its first segment connecting Tangier to Casablanca, the Boraq line is linked to Morocco's new state-of-the-art Tanger Med port on the country's Mediterranean coast 40 km east of Tangier. Upon the completion of the port's June 2019, Phase Two development, Tanger Med became the Mediterranean's largest port with a total container capacity of 9 million twenty-foot equivalent units, surpassing Spain's Algeciras and Valencia ports.

Groupe Renault established a second Moroccan manufacturing plant in Tangier to benefit from the expanded Tanger Med port and rail link. In 2019, Europe's third largest automaker sent six trainloads of Renault vehicles daily from its Tangier factory to the Tanger Med port for shipment to end-markets. In June 2019, France's Groupe PSA, Europe's second largest automaker, opened a manufacturing plant in Kénitra, north of Rabat, because of the Boraq high-speed rail link to the Tanger Med port.

In early 2019, prior to COVID-19's onset, automotive sector sales accounted for 27.6% of Morocco's exports. The country’s current vehicle production, led by Groupe Renault and Groupe PSA (now Stellantis), is supported by approximately 200 international suppliers operating their own local manufacturing plants, including major firms headquartered in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Japan, and the United States. The American firm Lear, ranked 179 on the Fortune 500 list, operates 11 production sites in Morocco for automotive seating and electrical systems manufacturing. Chinese manufacturers are using the opportunity of the Peugeot plant in Kénitra to integrate into the value chain, such as CITIC Dicastal, whose $400 million Kénitra plant can produce 6 million pieces annually to supply Peugeot.

Nearshoring of global supply chains favors Morocco

During the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains were already starting to shorten as companies and countries placed greater emphasis on resiliency than on immediate cost efficiency. For Europe, this structural transformation meant bringing sourcing and manufacturing closer to European end-markets. The imperative to “nearshore” while maintaining a competitive advantage in operating expenditures has provided an impetus to international firms to locate manufacturing facilities in Morocco. In the post-pandemic environment, the accelerating drive to shorten supply chains is now providing Morocco an on-ramp to enter the EV manufacturing value chain.

The STMicroelectronics agreement with Tesla seems to be just the leading edge of a wave of EV chip production in Morocco that could provide a pathway to EV manufacturing in the North African nation. Following Tesla, Groupe Renault signed a strategic cooperation agreement with STMicroelectronics for the supply of electric and hybrid vehicle advanced power semiconductors to be produced by the company starting in 2026. In 2021, Renault launched its Dacia Spring EV in Europe, marketing it as the continent's cheapest electric car. While the car is manufactured by Renault in China, chip production in Morocco raises the prospect that the Dacia Spring or successor EV models could be manufactured in Renault's Morocco plants. Stellantis has started manufacturing the new Peugeot e-208 EV in its Trnava plant in Slovakia. Morocco's Kénitra plant already manufactures the ICE version of the 5-door hatchback Peugeot 208. Since the e-208 uses the same chassis as the gasoline-powered Peugeot 208, the e-208 can also be easily assembled in the Kénitra plant.

Through its new EV chip production line, Morocco will soon play a greater strategic role in securing Western semiconductor supply chains. Given its proven track record as an automotive manufacturing hub, chip production could become the catalyst for the establishment of EV manufacturing in Morocco. With its ability to service end-markets in Europe as well as emerging ones in the Middle East and Africa, Morocco is poised to become a leading electric car manufacturer in the MENA region.


https://www.mei.edu/publications/mo...ring-through-electronic-chip-production-tesla

 

[The SC]

The President of the International Atomic Energy Organization is conducting an official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco, during which he met with senior officials in the Kingdom. He also visited the National Center for Nuclear Research and Technologies

https://twitter.com/x/status/1539253016590790674

 

[The SC]

Today, in the presence of the General Manager of the @SAFRAN Group, Mr. Olivier Andriès, the expansion of the @SafranNacelles Morocco factory specialized in the production of aircraft engine incubators was inaugurated, which required an investment of 115 million dirhams, which enabled an increase in the number of jobs created to 850.

A new high-tech investment that embodies the dynamism witnessed by the aviation industry under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, his victory, and the distinguished partnership with this global leader, and strengthens our country's path to positioning as a technological center of excellence and a prominent player at the global level.

Riad Mazour, Moroccan Minister of Industry:
60 percent of the safran engine is manufactured in Morocco..

 

[The SC]

Delivery of the first locally manufactured AIRBUS A 220 fuselage parts in Morocco

In a ceremony chaired by the Moroccan Minister of Industry, Riyad Mazour, today, the fuselage of an AIRBUS A 220, manufactured locally by a purely Moroccan workforce, was delivered.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1541484904340496387

 

[The SC]

The inauguration of the German group “Stalschmidt” factory specialized in the production of flexible transmission systems and door opening systems

 

[The SC]

To strengthen the production system of medical devices in Morocco, the Ministry of Industry signs a protocol of agreement for the development of local sources of medical devices and health products bearing the "Made in Morocco" brand..The protocol was signed by the Ministry of Industry, the French Federation of Hospitals for Procurement, GHL and the Incubator of Medical Industries in Morocco.

Under this agreement, the French Federation of Hospitals will allow Moroccan equipment to enter the French market and enhance its marketing capabilities, thus contributing to creating job opportunities in Morocco in this sector.

 

[The SC]

Moroccan scientist and researcher, the first woman to hold the position of Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1544269529160859651

 

[The SC]

Morocco enters the banned market: electronic ships and semi-conductors manufacturing

STMicroelectronics TOT

The world economy is divided into markets, not any market is useful to enter or any product is useful to own or even manufacture, that does not mean that if the product is not military, it doesn't remain permissible to trade it, there are products that are not military, but more dangerous than the military.. This is what this Egyptian video talks about; a very important topic, an episode that talks about the entering of an important Arab country to an important and dangerous international industrial market, one of the most important global markets, the market of those who own their technology, as if they owned the weapon of the future..

BTW Morocco is competing with Usrael in this field..

Moroccan music by Moroccan jews in Jerusalem.. they say at the end.. live long the king..

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1539268980505989128

The Director General of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, Moshe Edri.

"Israel may exchange aspects of its nuclear technology and knowledge with Morocco... under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1575240772575559680

 

[The SC]

Creation of a nuclear power plant: the agreement between Russia and Morocco approved by Moscow..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1580242105405870080

 

[The SC]

Morocco’s OCP Group to dedicate 4 Mln Tons of fertilizers to African Countries​

October 12, 2022 5:44 pm

Morocco’s state-owned phosphate OCP group has pledged to dedicate 4 million tons of fertilizers for African farmers in 2023 in a solidarity move with African countries.

The announcement was made by OCP Chairman & CEO Mostafa Terrab at the ongoing 2022 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings held in Washington-DC 10-16.

Over 44 million farmers across 35 countries will benefit from the new Moroccan fertilizers batch which is more than double OCP’s supply to the continent in 2021 and represents over a quarter of OCP’s expected total output.

Part of its commitment to enhance food security in Africa, the OCP also includes in the fertilizer supply program training and capacity building alongside local partners.

“The current geopolitical situation reveals deeper systemic fragilities in global agricultural systems. We have to address the challenges facing African farmers, from infrastructure to knowledge to market access to financing”, said Mr.Terrab.

“We are glad to be able to do our part and we are thankful for the excellent dialogue and collaboration with the World Bank, IFC, USAID, as well as other multilateral and development agencies involved in this effort, given their demonstrated leadership and long-term commitment to African development”, he added.

OCP has heavily invested in the development of eco-responsible fertilizer production capacity, reaching 15 MT of finished product by 2023, from a base of 3MT in 2008. This enables OCP to respond to Africa’s urgent needs while also supporting farmers around the world.

With revenues reaching $9.4 billion in 2021, OCP is a leader in plant nutrition and the world’s largest producer of phosphate-based fertilizers. It works in close partnership with more than 350 customers across the world. Closer to home, OCP is committed to accelerating Africa’s environmental and social development and implement sustainable and prosperous agriculture through continuous innovation.

Its subsidiary OCP Africa has developed a comprehensive farmer-centric approach, which has already reached more than 2 million farmers with fertilizer customization, soil mapping, training, field trials and market linkages.

Created in 2016, OCP Africa aims to contribute to the development of integrated agricultural ecosystems in Africa. It has offices in many African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Benin, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda) and is present on the ground in many others.


https://northafricapost.com/61612-m...tons-of-fertilizers-to-african-countries.html

 

[The SC]

King Mohammed VI of Morocco announces a huge investment package of $ 55 billion in the next three years..and create 500,000 jobs, between 2022 and 2026..

These are internal joint investments between the Moroccan private sector, the Moroccan state and the Moroccan banking sector..

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtGqSnq6G0/

 

[The SC]

Treasure of the Moroccan mountain Tropic / Morocco buys a sophisticated Japanese ship / Al Hassan Marrakchi ship and the voyage of discover..

New developments Morocco exports gas from Larache and Tendrara soon / other good news / Moroccan natural gas..