Germany supports Infineon's Fab with almost one billion euros
The European Commission approves the grant for Infineon's new semiconductor plant. The company makes commitments in return.
The construction of Infineon's new semiconductor plant in Dresden is already in full swing.
(Image: Infineon)
Infineon receives 920 million euros in funding for the construction of its second semiconductor plant in Dresden. The money comes as a direct grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). The latter still has to give its final approval, but this is only a formality. The European Commission recently approved the funding – as part of the European Chips Act, it allows such high individual subsidies.
Infineon itself calls the semiconductor plant a Smart Power Fab. The manufacturer intends to produce two types of chips in it: firstly, stand-alone power semiconductors for power switching, management and control in electronic systems, and secondly, integrated circuits that process both digital and analog signals.
The semiconductors produced are intended for industrial, automotive and consumer applications, writes the EU Commission in a separate press release. The plant will be designed for a high degree of flexibility and will be able to switch quickly between different product groups.
1000 new jobs
Construction began in March 2023 and production is scheduled to start in 2026 and ramp up fully by 2031 – long start-up processes are common in such fabs. 1000 jobs are expected to be created directly at the plant; others are typically created by suppliers. Infineon is talking about total costs of around 5 billion euros for the construction. According to the EU Commission, the manufacturer itself is investing 3.5 billion euros. The subsidy therefore covers around 20 percent.
Additional money comes from the IPCEI ME/CT ("Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies"). It is unclear exactly how much of this will flow into the fab.
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Infineon produces for the EU in times of crisis
Meanwhile, Infineon is making several commitments for the funding. Probably the most important of these: In times of crisis, the manufacturer must prioritize orders from the EU in order to avoid or minimize supply bottlenecks.
Infineon must also continue to invest in the EU's semiconductor value chain and in research and development of the next generation of chips in Europe. Infineon provides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research institutes and universities with smaller production capacities for testing and validating prototypes.
(mma)
