electronics
Taiwanese chip group TSMC builds factory in Dresden
The Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC wants to set up a factory in Dresden. photo
© Chiang Ying-Ying/AP/dpa
Dresden is one of the most important locations for the semiconductor industry internationally. Now, with TSMC from Taiwan, an industry giant is settling there.
The plant is to be built jointly with the Bosch, Infineon and NXP groups, each of which is said to hold ten percent of the newly founded joint venture “European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company” (ESMC). TSMC comes to 70 percent. According to the announcement, around 2,000 jobs will be created. The groundbreaking is scheduled for the second half of 2024. The start of production is planned for 2027. The aim is to build a modern factory for semiconductor production in order to be able to cover the future capacity requirements of the automotive industry and other industrial sectors, explained the German electronics giant Bosch.
In May, the German group Infineon started building a five billion euro chip factory in Dresden. Bosch and the US company Globalfoundries also have large plants in Dresden. TSMC is the largest chip contract manufacturer in the world.
According to dpa information, the federal government wants to support the factory construction of TSMC with five billion euros, which the “Handelsblatt” also reported on. The EU Commission must make the final decision on funding.
Major project by Intel in Magdeburg
The federal government is trying to attract companies to invest in Germany with large amounts of funding. With a total investment volume of 30 billion euros for a new location, Intel in Magdeburg is to receive almost 10 billion from the state. Infineon is aiming for government funding of one billion euros for the expansion of its Dresden plant.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is also concerned about the effects of the US anti-inflation law. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act provides for investments in climate protection worth billions. Subsidies and tax credits are linked to companies using US products or producing them themselves in the US. In Europe, there are fears of disadvantages for domestic companies and a subsidy race. China also supports its own companies with state funds.
TSMC masters the manufacturing processes for particularly miniaturized and economical chips and is therefore a key company for smartphone suppliers such as Apple with its iPhone. The large TSMC factories are located at the company’s site in Taiwan – which, given the tensions with Beijing, is considered a geopolitical risk for the entire electronics industry.
products for car manufacturers
In contrast to the chips for high-performance smartphones, the semiconductors from the new plant in Dresden are not manufactured using the latest 3 or 4 nanometer processes, but with larger structure widths. Such conventional chips are common in the automotive industry. With the proliferation of connected vehicles and electric cars, the industry needs more and more of these. During the pandemic, the auto industry was particularly hard hit by the shortage of semiconductors given the high demand for PCs, among other things. Several manufacturers had to suspend production.
Bosch boss Stefan Hartung explained that the reliable availability of semiconductors is of great importance for the success of the global automotive industry. “In addition to the constant expansion of our own production facilities, we continue to secure our supply chains as an automotive supplier through close cooperation with our partners.”