Infineon strengthens Europe’s semiconductor industry with “Smart Power Fab”
On Tuesday, Infineon will break ground with great fanfare for a new semiconductor fab in Dresden. The company intends to expand its production capacity by a good third.
High-ranking visitors are expected: in addition to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, intends to fly in for the ground-breaking ceremony for Dresden’s new semiconductor fab takes place. The presence of senior politicians underlines the importance this manufacturing facility will have for the European semiconductor industry: It will be the first facility of its kind to receive funding under the European Chips Act. The aim of this package of measures is to raise Europe’s share of global semiconductor production volume from less than 10% at present to 20%.
To this end, Infineon is expected to receive a grant of about € 1 bn. This is expected because the grant has been applied for but not yet officially approved. If the EU administration and the German government give their nod to the application, Infineon will thus receive 20% of the investment volume for the new building in Dresden – the total cost for the plant is currently stated at € 5 bn.
Dresden, Villach fabs to be merged to one ‘virtual fab’
Technically, the new building represents an expansion of Infineon’s existing production facility in Dresden. The additional cleanroom space provided by the new “Smart Power Fab” is expected to be 40 to 50 % of the company’s existing clean room space of 40,000 square metres. Infineon expects the expansion of its largely automated production to create about 1,000 additional jobs. The new 300mm fab will manufacture analogue/mixed-signal products and power electronic components. Target applications of the products are power supplies, small motor controllers for cars, data centres and the IoT. To increase its manufacturing efficiency and flexibility, Infineon intends to merge the Dresden Smart Power Fab with its power fab in Villach (Austria) to form a “virtual fab”.
- Chip firms are spending $500 billion on 84 wafer fabs
- South Korea tables 35% tax break for chip capex
The expansion of Infineon’s manufacturing site also strengthens the “Silicon Saxony” Hightech ecosystem. So far, about 2500 companies from the semiconductor value chain have settled there; in total, the industry employs about 70,000 people in the Dresden area. In addition, there are nine universities and research institutes that are also active in this field. According to Infineon, every third chip manufactured in Europe comes from Dresden, where besides Infineon, Globalfoundries, Bosch and X-Fab also operate large production facilities.
But Infineon’s new building will not be nearly enough to reach von der Leyen’s ambitious goal of a 20 per cent share of Europe in global semiconductor capacity. Ondrej Burkacky, semiconductor expert at the consulting firm McKinsey, estimates that 30 additional chip factories would be needed. In addition, the competition is not sleeping either: TSMC, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips, intends to build a new fab soon in Arizona, USA. With an investment of more than $40 bn, it is far larger than Infineon’s new plant.
Related articles
TSMC could partner with Bosch for 28nm fab in Germany
TSMC’s Dresden fab talks reach advanced stage, says report
Infineon ready to spend ‘billions’ on acquisitions, says CE
Wolfspeed, ZF plan world’s largest SiC production line
Bosch plans $ billion takeover in U.S. SiC market
Infineon renames power control division to Green Industrial Power (GIP)
Infineon, Delta Electronics jointly develop automotive semiconductors
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
