At a cost of 1 billion euros, Bosch opens its 12-inch fab in Germany

The shortage of chips has spread in automobiles, consumer electronics, and many industries. The United States has introduced the Semiconductor Revitalization Act. Germany is also advocating the return of chips to local manufacturing. Bosch has recently held an opening ceremony for a new 12-inch fab in Germany. In addition, Global Foundry also signed a major contract with GlobalFoundries. On June 8th, the silicon wafer giant Global Crystal announced that it has signed an $800 million long-term contract with Globalfoundries (Globalfoundries) to increase the production of 12-inch SOI wafers in the Missouri plant and expand the existing 8-inch SOI wafer. SOI wafer capacity.

According to Reuters, on June 7, Bosch's new 12-inch fab in Dresden, Germany held an opening ceremony. German Chancellor Merkel also participated in the meeting online.

On Monday, Bosch opened a new fab in Dresden, Germany. This is a new 12-inch fab built by Bosch in Dresden at a cost of 1 billion euros (approximately US$1.2 billion) to meet the needs of the Internet of Things and transportation. Application and other market demands.

The new plant is the largest single investment in Bosch's 135-year history. It occupies about 14 football fields and currently has about 250 employees. It plans to eventually recruit 700 employees.

The fire at the Renesas plant in Japan and Blizzard in Texas aggravated the global chip shortage. Bosch said that the new plant will first produce chips for power tools and will only start production of chips for cars in September.

Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner said: "Through our first AIoT factory, we are setting new standards for semiconductor manufacturing... The current shortage of chips will continue into the second half of this year. Although the epidemic has caused production delays, construction sites also initially appeared. Problems, but the ability to start production earlier is not only due to the good cooperation of the factory and the on-site team."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the opening ceremony of Bosch's new fab on Monday that in any case, the chip shortage and bottleneck make it more difficult for the German economy to recover from the epidemic, and it is vital to strengthen the defense against external supply interruptions.

Merkel revealed: Germany will spend a further 400 million euros (488 million US dollars) to support more chip projects. We are not ahead. We must catch up. We must be ambitious. Global competitors are not resting at all."

Strategy Analytics analyst Asif Anwar said that the new fab may help Bosch and its major customers, but it is unlikely to solve the current shortage of automotive chips.

Global Crystal and GlobalFoundries signed an US$800 million long-term contract

On June 8th, the silicon wafer giant Global Crystal announced that it has signed an $800 million long-term contract with Globalfoundries (Globalfoundries) to increase the production of 12-inch SOI wafers in the Missouri plant and expand the existing 8-inch SOI wafer. SOI wafer capacity.

Global Crystal said that this long-term contract is expected to invest nearly 210 million US dollars in capital expenditures in the next few years to expand the production capacity of the Missouri fab, and the 12-inch wafer trial production line is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

The 12-inch SOI wafers produced by Universal Crystals plant in Missouri will be used in GlobalFoundriesmost advanced Fab 8 fab in New York State, and the 8-inch SOI wafers manufactured in the Missouri plant will also be used It is used at GlobalFoundries' Fab 9 fab in Vermont to meet the needs of 5G mobile phones, wireless communications, automotive radar, and aerospace technology.

In order to meet the needs of customers and the continuous growth of global computer chips, GlobalFoundries will invest US$1.4 billion to expand its production capacity this year. Global Crystal is its long-term supplier of 8-inch SOI wafers. The two parties announced in February last year that they would cooperate closely. , To substantially expand the existing 12-inch SOI wafer capacity of Global Crystal. Todays agreement symbolizes an important step in cooperation with each other.

Xu Xiulan, chairman of Global Crystal, said that he is proud to deepen the strategic partnership with GlobalFoundries and expand its important role in the semiconductor supply chain.