Nexperia stated its intention to allocate $200 million towards the advancement of the upcoming generation of wide bandgap semiconductors (WBG), which includes silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN).
The investments which include increasing wafer fab capacity for silicon (Si) diodes and transistors are jointly announced with Hamburg’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr. Melanie Leonhard, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the production site.
Newsng gathered that June 2024 saw the start of the first production lines for SiC diodes and high-voltage GaN D-Mode transistors.
The next major achievement will be the installation of cutting-edge, reasonably priced 200mm SiC MOSFET and low-voltage GaN HEMT production lines.
Over the following two years, these will be established.
“This investment strengthens our position as a leading supplier of energy-efficient semiconductors and enables us to utilize available electrical energy more responsibly,” comments Achim Kempe, COO and managing director at Nexperia Germany.
This indicates that Nexperia is a supporter of important technologies in the digitalization and electrification domains. SiC and GaN semiconductors are fundamental components of electromobility and renewable energy applications, allowing extremely efficient operation of power-hungry applications like data centres.
“In the future, our Hamburg fab will cover the complete range of WBG semiconductors while still being the largest factory for small signal diodes and transistors.
“We remain committed to our strategy of producing high-quality, cost-efficient semiconductors for standard applications and power-intensive applications, while addressing one of the greatest challenges of our generation: meeting the growing demand for energy and while reducing the environmental footprint,” Kempe added.
According to a news release, Nexperia collaborates closely with academic institutions and research centres to foster highly skilled staff training and gain from one another’s experience.
Nexperia is dependent on a strong ecosystem for research and development in Hamburg and across Europe.
We earlier reported that Black Semiconductor has raised €254.4 million (about $273 million at today’s rates) through a combination of private and public finance
