The European Commission has approved a €920m German aid measure to Infineon for its new semiconductor smart power fab in Dresden.
The measure allows the company to complete the MEGAFAB-DD project and produce a wide range of chips. Work on the site started two years ago and is due to be completed in 2026.
Official funding approval from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), responsible for the disbursement of EU Chips Act funding, is still pending and ‘expected within the next few months,’ according to Infineon.
“This government-supported investment by Infineon strengthens the position of Dresden, Germany and Europe as a semiconductor hub and promotes a state-of-the-art innovation and production ecosystem for microelectronics,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon. “We are increasing semiconductor capacity in Europe and thus helping secure stable supply chains in automotive, security and industrial fields.”
The plant will produce two technology families: discrete power technologies used for power switching, management and control in electronic systems, and analogue/mixed-signal integrated circuits that are crucial for bridging the gap between the analogue and digital worlds. Semiconductors will be used in industrial, automotive and consumer applications.
The east Germany city is becoming an increasingly pivotal semiconductor hub.
The European Commission approved under EU State aid rules a German measure to support European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) build and operate a microchip manufacturing plant last August.
ESMC, a joint venture between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Bosch, Infineon, and NXP, targets growing demand for industrial and automotive applications.
The new large-scale manufacturing facility supported under the measure will deliver high-performance chips, based on 300mm silicon wafers with node sizes covering 28/22nm and 16/12nm, using field-effect transistor (FinFET) technology and allowing the integration of several additional features in one chip.
The produced chips will offer better performance while reducing total power consumption. The plant, which is planned to be operating at full capacity by 2029, is expected to produce 480,000 silicon wafers per year.
