Infineon prepares for long-term growth and invests EUR1.6 billion in new 300-millimeter chip factory

SINGAPORE, May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Infineon is to build a new factory for power semiconductors. The market and technology leader in this segment plans to construct a fully automated chip factory for manufacturing 300-millimeter thin wafers at the Villach location in Austria alongside the existing production facility. Investments totaling around EUR1.6 billion are planned over six years, creating some 400 new jobs in the new, highly efficient factory. Construction will start in the first half of 2019 and production is expected to commence early 2021. The additional sales potential of the new factory, given full capacity utilization, is around EUR1.8 billion a year.

"Global demand for power semiconductors is soaring. Infineon is particularly sought-after by customers and is even growing more strongly than the market," said Dr. Reinhard Ploss, Chief Executive Officer of Infineon. "Growth is underpinned by global megatrends such as climate change, demographic change and increasing digitization. Electric vehicles, connected and battery-powered devices, data centers or power generation from renewable sources require efficient and reliable power semiconductors. The new facility at Villach will help us cater for the growing demand that our customers anticipate, and continue on our path to success in the coming decade."

Villach is Infineon's competence center for power semiconductors and was the site that developed the manufacturing of 300-millimeter thin wafers. The larger diameter of the wafers delivers significant gains in productivity and reduces working capital. Infineon will apply automation and digitization concepts from Dresden at the new Villach factory. Dresden is Infineon's largest site for wafer processing (frontend) where full utilization of its 300-millimeter production capacities are expected by 2021.

According to market researchers from IHS Markit, Infineon is the world's largest provider of power semiconductors with a market share of 18.5 percent.* Power-saving chips control the flow of electricity in applications such as electric vehicles, trains, wind and solar farms, and power supply units for mobile phones, notebooks and data centers.