Giant Chip Factory Under Construction in Germany
The plant will receive $5 billion in government aid and will be built by Taiwan's TSMC in collaboration with three European companies
The foundation stone for the construction of a microchip manufacturing plant in Dresden, Germany, was laid on August 20, 2024. Taiwanese giant TSMC’s plant will be ready in 2027 and involves an investment of 10 billion euros.
This new plant is part of a European effort to re-establish a presence in this crucial sector, supported by the European Chip Law, which has already facilitated the creation of new chip plants in France, in Grenoble, and in Italy – in Catania. This new creation is defined as the “first of its kind” in the EU (i.e. there are no similar productions) and can therefore be supported by state aid, which should amount to around €5 billion.
“Since we adopted the European Chips Act, it has already attracted public and private investment commitments of around €115 billion,” commented European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “This is a real investment revolution for the European chip sector. And that’s just the beginning. Strengthening our industrial competitiveness is at the heart of the European Commission’s new five-year program, which I presented in July.”
The plant will be built, as mentioned, in Dresden, Saxony, in the former East Germany. It’s a joint venture between TSMC and Germany’s Bosch, Infineon (a former Siemens subsidiary), and the Netherlands’ NXP Semiconductors; it will have a production capacity of 40,000 wafers per month and will create 6,000 jobs in a few years.