The new building covers approximately 100,000 square meters, includes a fully 5G-capable network and manufactures chips on silicon wafers with a diameter of 300 mm. Although operations are starting up gradually, silicon wafers have been in production since March. The full start is to take place by the end of 2021; thereafter the factory will produce the latest generation of chips for a wide variety of applications.

Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) funded the factory – which belongs to the IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) microelectronics – with around 140 million euros. Robert Bosch invested about a billion.

Peter Altmaier, German Minister of Economics, announced a new era in microelectronics. Only in this way will Germany take on a leading role in the development of technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving.