Infineon's 300mm thin wafer power semiconductor plant has started
Infineon's 300mm thin wafer power semiconductor plant has started
According to the official announcement of Infineon Technologies AG, its 300mm thin wafer power semiconductor chip factory in Villach, Austria has officially started operations.
To achieve long-term profitable growth by increasing efficiency and reducing emissions, Infineon announced a new chip factory as early as 2018 to produce power semiconductor devices (energy-efficient chips). Infineon expects that the global demand for power semiconductor devices will continue to grow in the next few years. Due to the growing global demand for power semiconductor devices, it is now the best time to increase production capacity. The market situation in the past few months has clearly shown that microelectronics technology is very important, covering almost all areas of life. With the acceleration of digitalization and electrification. The new capacity will help better provide long-term quality services to global customers.
Focusing on the situation of the global chip market, investing in innovative technologies is very important for future development. In today's global development trend, microelectronics technology is a key technology that occupies a leading position, and related research and development, systems and technologies in the digital field are based on this. In the industry, Infineon's capacity expansion is of great significance for maintaining the stability of the global supply chain.
The first batch of products is currently shipping
After three years of preparation and construction, the new plant was put into production, three months ahead of schedule. The first batch of wafers will be shipped. In the first stage of capacity expansion, the chips produced will be mainly used to meet the needs of the automotive industry, data centers, and renewable energy power generation fields such as solar and wind energy. At the company's overall level, the new plant is expected to contribute to Infineon's sales increase.
The semiconductors produced at the Villach plant will be used in a variety of applications. Therefore, the new plant will enable Infineon to serve the ever-increasing market demand for power semiconductors in the fields of electric vehicles, data centers, and solar and wind energy. From a numerical point of view, the planned annual production capacity of industrial semiconductors will be able to meet the needs of solar systems with a total power generation of about 1,500 TWh, which is about three times the annual electricity consumption in Germany.
Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, CEO of Infineon Technologies Austria, said: "This investment shows that Europe has the ability to become an attractive production base in the highly competitive microelectronics field. Through this investment, we have also established A new benchmark. The high-efficiency chips produced by the new plant in Villach will become the core force in promoting the energy transition. Through the new plant, Infineon is working for the realization of the goals of the European Green Deal and even the global Make positive contributions to the development of low-carbon and energy-saving.
Energy-efficient chips help create green and environmentally friendly products
Over the years, Infineon's products have been contributing to improving energy efficiency and even climate protection. As the core of Infineon’s global power semiconductor expertise, the Villach plant plays an important role in these solutions. These energy-efficient chips can intelligently control the power switch, which can significantly reduce the energy consumption of many applications such as household appliances, LED lighting equipment and mobile devices, thereby minimizing carbon emissions. For example, modern semiconductor devices can reduce the energy consumption of refrigerators by 40% and the energy consumption of architectural lighting by 25%. Thanks to the product portfolio of the Villach plant, the products produced by the new production facility can reduce more than 13 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by more than 20 million inhabitants in Europe.
Energy efficient factory
During the construction of the Villach plant, Infineon paid special attention to further improving energy usage: intelligent recycling of waste heat through the cooling system can meet 80% of the plant's heating needs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 20,000 tons per year. In addition, the extensive use of exhaust gas purification systems makes direct emissions almost zero.
The factory is one of the most modern chip factories in the world, relying on full automation and digitalization. As a "learning factory", artificial intelligence solutions will be widely used for predictive maintenance. Networked factories will be able to predict in advance when maintenance is required based on a large amount of data analysis and simulation.
300mm thin wafer technology and power semiconductors
The chips are manufactured on 300mm thin wafers, and the thickness of the thin wafers is only 40 microns, which is thinner than a human hair. Villach is the professional core of Infineon's power semiconductors and has long been a very important and innovative base in the manufacturing network. About ten years ago, Infineon successfully developed the technology to produce power semiconductors on 300mm thin wafers here, and in recent years it has achieved fully automated mass production at its Dresden plant. Due to the large wafer diameter, the use of this technology brings significant productivity advantages and reduces capital expenditures.
