On Tuesday 20 August, the European Commission authorised German aid worth €5 billion to help the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) build and operate a microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden.
ESMC is a joint undertaking between Taiwan’s Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Bosch, Infineon and NXP.
The measure will strengthen Europe’s security of supply, resilience and digital sovereignty in semiconductor technologies, in line with the objectives set out in the European Chips Act Communication.
The new facility will deliver high-performance chips, based on 300mm silicon wafers with node sizes covering 28/22nm and 16/12nm, using field-effect transistor (‘FinFET’) technology and allowing the integration of several additional features in one chip. The chips produced will offer better performance while reducing overall electricity consumption. The plant, which should be operating at full capacity by 2029, is expected to produce 480,000 silicon wafers a year.
The facility will operate as an open foundry, meaning that any customer - including, but not limited to, the three shareholders other than TSMC - can place orders for the production of specific chips.
The Commission concluded that the measure will facilitate the development of certain economic activities by enabling the creation of a new mass production facility for innovative technologies and chips in Europe. There is currently no comparable mass production facility for the specific technological features on offer. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)