Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he hopes that Telefonica SA’s new management will take the company in a different direction and help to develop his country’s semiconductor industry.
“Telefonica has a major role to play in different aspects of our economy,” Sanchez said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Francine Lacqua at the the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. “Regarding the semiconductor industry and the digital economy, of course I think it could play a very important role.”
Telefonica’s new chairman, Marc Murtra, is settling into his role this week after Sanchez pushed out his predecessor, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete in a shock move over the weekend. The 52-year-old premier had grown frustrated with Pallete’s reluctance to invest in new technology and innovation, according to people familiar with his thinking.
The government owns 10% of Telefonica and allied with industrial holding company Criteria Caixa SA, which controls a similar stake, to ask Pallete to step down. Murtra is a former Socialist government official close to Sanchez who was previously chairman of state-backed defence firm Indra Sistemas SA.
“We’re very excited and confident with the new team,” Sanchez said.
Spain has set aside €12 billion (RM55.83 billion) from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery funds for the development of a domestic semiconductor industry, but has struggled to attract the large investors it needs to help execute its strategy. The Edge Malaysia