Infineon invests €1.6bn in power ICs wafer fab

At 1.6 billion euros, the investment made by the semiconductor group represents one of the largest such projects in the microelectronics sector in Europe.

The fab was opened by Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss, Infineon Austria CEO Sabine Herlitschka along with EU Commissioner Thierry Breton and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Infineon set the stage for long-term, profitable growth based on energy efficiency and CO ₂ reduction at an early stage and announced the construction of the chip factory for power electronics (“energy-saving chips”) in 2018.

“The new fab is a milestone for Infineon, and its opening is very good news for our customers,” Ploss said. “The timing to create new capacity in Europe could not be better, given the growing global demand for power semiconductors. The last few months have clearly shown how essential microelectronics are in virtually every area of life. Given the accelerated pace of digitalisation and electrification, we expect demand for power semiconductors to continue to grow in the coming years. The additional capacities will help us serve our customers worldwide even better, including long term.”

After three years of preparation and construction, the factory was commissioned at the beginning of August, three months ahead of schedule.

The first wafers have left the Villach plant.

In the first stage of expansion, the chips will primarily be used to meet demand from the automotive industry, data centres and renewable energy generation of solar and wind power. On the group level, the new factory will give Infineon additional sales potential of around two billion euros per year.

The semiconductors produced in Villach will be used in numerous applications. As a result, the new factory will enable Infineon to serve the growing market for power semiconductors in electric cars, data centres as well as solar and wind energy.

Arithmetically speaking, the annual capacity planned for industrial semiconductors is sufficient to equip solar systems producing a total of around 1,500 TWh of electricity – roughly three times the annual power consumption in Germany.

During the construction Infineon ensired that the factor could further improve its energy balance sheet - 80 % of the site’s heating requirements will be covered by intelligently recycling the waste heat of the cooling systems, and around 20,000 tons of CO ₂ will be avoided each year.

The extensive use of exhaust air purification systems will cut direct emissions to virtually zero.

The new chip factory has about 60,000 m² of gross floor space. Production will be gradually ramped up over the next four to five years. More than two-thirds of the 400 additional highly qualified specialists needed to operate the factory have already been hired.

Opening time: l to r - Infineon Austria CEO Sabine Herlitschka, Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss and and Jochen Hanebeck, Member of the Infineon Management Board and COO.