At €1.6 billion, the investment made by the Semiconductor group represents one of the largest such projects in the microelectronics sector in Europe.
The Villach site is one of the world’s most modern fabs and was opened by Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss, Infineon Austria CEO Sabine Herlitschka along with EU Commissioner Thierry Breton and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Infineon set the stage for long-term, profitable growth based on energy efficiency and CO 2 reduction at an early stage and announced the construction of the chip factory for power electronics (“energy-saving chips”) in 2018.
“The new fab is a milestone for Infineon, and its opening is very good news for our customers,” Ploss said. “The timing to create new capacity in Europe could not be better, given the growing global demand for power semiconductors.”
After three years of preparation and construction, the factory was commissioned at the beginning of August, three months ahead of schedule.
The first wafers will leave the Villach plant this week.
In the first stage of expansion, the chips will primarily be used to meet demand from the automotive industry, data centers and renewable energy generation of solar and wind power.
On the group level, the new factory will give Infineon additional sales potential of around two billion euros per year.