Semiconductors from Austria: EU approves 227 million euros

“We are delighted that the European Commission has approved Austrian state aid for the expansion of our semiconductor production in Premstätten under the European Chips Act,” says Aldo Kamper, CEO of Ams-Osram AG. These subsidies are expected to amount to up to 227 million euros, which corresponds to 40 percent of the investment sum of 567 million euros. The Group division involved manufactures optical sensors, LEDs, lasers (including LIDAR) and integrated circuits (CMOS).

The funding is part of an EU-wide strategy: the European Union has set itself the goal of promoting the mass production of semiconductors to be less dependent on other countries. The EU's global market share is to be increased to 20 percent of production by 2030. As much as ten billion euros were earmarked for an Intel chip factory in Magdeburg and 515 million euros for Wolfspeed's wafer processing plant in Saarland. However, neither project is likely to come to fruition.

Asm-Osram's new semiconductor production plant in Premstätten, Styria, is scheduled to go into operation in 2030. It will produce next-generation optoelectronic sensors for applications in medical technology and the automotive sector. Production for industrial and consumer electronics is also planned. The company plans to build CMOS chips, possibly with through-silicon vias, as well as optical filters.

“There will be a significant expansion, and we will increase the production area by 1,800 square meters,” Kamper explained to ORF Steiermark in May, “These are clean room areas, very high-quality, very expensive, and the equipment that comes in is even pricier. Accordingly, it is already a commitment to the location, and it is also important for us that this step is also promoted. Europe is in competition with many other regions.” The Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs has held out the prospect of funding and has now obtained the necessary approval from the EU Commission under competition law. The allocation of the subsidy by the Austrian authority to Asm-Osram is now considered a formality.

250 jobs in Premstätten

The good news is important for the company. Last year, it had to close its micro-LED division. This cost a total of around 500 jobs in Regensburg and Malaysia and resulted in a net loss of 710 million euros. Asm-Osram had built a factory in Malaysia for one billion US dollars, but its micro-LEDs failed to find a customer. The prospect of doing business with a large corporation – according to unconfirmed media reports, Apple – for its smartwatches came to nothing. Thanks to the funding made possible by the European Chips Act, 250 jobs are to be partly secured and partly created in Premstätten.

Osram, based in Munich, has been owned by the Austrian company Ams since 2020. In 2019, the first attempt to take over Osram failed, but in 2020 it succeeded at a higher price with a lower approval rate.

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