Electronics & Microtechnology
Germany to Get EUR 100 Million Chip Innovation Center
The Aixtron company has begun construction on a facility to try out a new generation of superefficient semiconductors.
Nov 23, 2023
The new innovation center will be located near Aixtron’s headquarters in Herzogenrath in western Germany. The company says an increase in customers means it needs more space for clean rooms for testing.
Aixtron specializes in chips made of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) as a faster, more efficient alternative to conventional silicon chips. SiC and GaN are gaining in popularity and are predicted to capture 30 percent of market share in the coming years. Earlier in 2023, US chipmaker Wolfspeed announced that it would build a SiC production facility in southwestern Germany.
“We see our markets expanding healthily at double-figure rates,” Aixtron Chairman Felix Grawert told business newspaper Handelsblatt. “We’re creating the conditions to develop new applications.”
Industry experts predict those growth rates will continue as Germany and Europe seek to diversify supply chains and make them more resilient.
