During the first visit to the high-performance chip factory in Dresden, Saxony state, Germany by ESMC - a joint venture between Taiwan, China Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), Bosch, Infineon and Construction Publishing House, Chairman of the European Commission - Ursula von der Leyen said: "This center is qualified to operate under the European Chips Act. This will be a place to produce products that are not available at any other facility across the continent. We will soon announce financial support policies".
She also revealed that the European Commission has approved a German government's €5 billion grant to the ESMC to build and operate the plant.
This new factory will produce high-performance chips using semi-conducting ball technology with ('FinFET') surrounding effect and integrates a number of new features. Manufactured chips will have better performance as well as reduce energy consumption effectively.
The ESMC is expected to produce 480,000 chips by 2029. These chips are used for industrial and automobile products.
This plant was established to enhance supply security, resilience and autonomy of Europe in semiconductor technologies as well as in accordance with the European chip Act. This law took effect in September 2023, with the aim of realizing the goal of bringing the number of chips in the bloc to 10% of the total global chip by 2030.
Previously, there were about 1 trillion chips produced worldwide in 2020. Ms. Von der Leyen also said that up to now, the Chips Act has helped attract about 115 billion euros in investment capital.
In Saxony, Germany currently has about 25,000 semiconductor companies and factories, including Bosch, Infineon, Globalfoundries and X-FAB. The huge amount of chips produced allows the region to make technological advances in areas such as healthcare, cloud, defense and clean energy.
Ms. Von der Leyen has pledged to take additional measures to boost Europe's industrial competitiveness, such as establishing a fund to invest in strategic technology industries, including the advanced chip sector, in her new term.
At the same time, she will also propose a clean industrial deal to ensure access to cheap energy and raw materials. In addition, vocational training in chip manufacturing or other high-tech industries is also of interest.
