Semiconductors | Infineon opens chip factory in Austria
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The semiconductor company Infineon has opened a new plant in Villach, Austria. With global semiconductor supply bottlenecks, timing couldn’t be better. Microelectronics is more popular than ever.
Infineon Technologies AG has opened its new high-tech chip factory for power electronics on 300-millimeter thin wafers in Villach, Austria. The company announces that 1.6 billion euros have been invested in the factory. Infineon will gradually ramp up production over the next four to five years. Together with the Dresden site, Infineon now has two large power semiconductor factories for 300 millimeter thin wafers.
“The last few months have clearly shown how essential microelectronics is in almost all areas of life. We expect accelerated electrification and digitization. The demand for power semiconductors will continue to increase in the coming years. The additional capacities will help our customers worldwide even more to master better – and also to expand it, “says Reinhard Plos, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG.
Electromobility is the most important growth area
With the new plant, which will create 400 highly qualified jobs, Infineon will primarily secure electromobility. The factory can equip around 25 million electric cars with power semiconductors every year. Electromobility will be the first growth model, said Infineon boss Ploss at the press conference on September 17th in the run-up to the factory opening. Infineon generates around 40% of its sales in the automotive sector.
After three years of preparation and construction, the factory went into operation three months earlier than originally planned at the beginning of August. In the first expansion stage, the chips primarily cover the demand from the automotive industry, in the area of data centers and renewable energy generation from solar and wind power. According to its own information, the Infineon Group has additional sales potential of around two billion euros per year with the new factory.
Delivery bottlenecks remain
Infineon’s new factory is unlikely to change much about the new shortage of chips and the delivery bottlenecks. The industry does not expect normalization until 2022. Infineon boss Ploss also thinks it is possible that the shortage of contract manufacturers, the so-called foundries, could continue until 2023. According to the latest estimates, around five million fewer cars will be built this year alone due to the lack of chips.