by InTrieste
A long-disputed industrial site in Trieste has found a new future. At a meeting on Tuesday at the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, officials announced that Fair Cap will transfer the Adriatronics facility — once operated by Flextronics — to Star Tech Industries, a joint venture with ties to the aerospace and semiconductor sectors.
The new ownership structure gives 50 percent to Star Tech Ventures, the Italian branch of Mountain X, a venture capital fund focused on aerospace and dual-use defense technologies, and 50 percent to Segner Limited, a strategic partner and intellectual property holder of Newphotonics. Newphotonics develops photonic integrated circuits for data centers, a technology seen as central to the rise of artificial intelligence.
Regional officials Alessia Rosolen, councilor for labor, and Sergio Emidio Bini, councilor for production activities, attended the meeting alongside Minister Adolfo Urso. They confirmed that all 333 current employees at Adriatronics will be retained, with the possibility of increasing the workforce to 420. The deal is expected to bring more than €70 million in investments to Friuli Venezia Giulia, with a focus on chip manufacturing.
The announcement marks a turning point in a labor dispute that began when Flextronics withdrew from the site in ways that local authorities described as incompatible with social responsibility and collaboration with institutions.
“The guiding principle has always been to ensure industrial and employment continuity at the plant and to safeguard workers’ professional skills,” Rosolen and Bini said in a joint statement.
Over the past several months, the regional government emphasized the need for guarantees on jobs and production. Officials credited the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy for maintaining steady political and technical oversight of the negotiations, which they said was critical to reaching an agreement.
Looking ahead, the regional government pledged to support the transition with industrial and labor policies, including worker retraining programs to adapt skills to the plant’s new production plans.
