Bosch Announces 3 billion Euro Chip Investment

Bosch has announced an investment of 3 billion euros in its semiconductor business, which will include the exploration of new technologies, including GaN.

The new investment is planned for the period until 2026 and will see Bosch invest an additional 3 billion euros in its semiconductor division as part of the IPCEI funding program on microelectronics and communications technology. The investment will strengthen Bosch’s production capability and see the company enter new field of innovation, including getting into SoC production and exploring the use of GaN technology in electromobility applications.

Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the Bosch board of management, explained the investment strategy at the Bosch Tech Day 2022 in Dresden, “Microelectronics is the future and is vital to the success of all areas of Bosch business. With it, we hold a master key to tomorrow’s mobility, the internet of things, and to what we at Bosch call technology that is ‘Invented for life’,” says.

As part of the new investment, Bosch will fund the construction of two new development centers – in Reutlingen and Dresden – at a combined cost of over 170 million euros. The company will also spend 250 million euros in the next 12 months on the creation of an extra 3,000 square meters of clean-room space at its wafer fab in Dresden.

As well as investing in the company’s current operations, the investment will also see Bosch look to advance new technologies, which will include systems-on-a-chip, such as the radar sensors a vehicle uses to perform 360 degree scans of its surroundings during automated driving. Bosch will enhance these components, making them smaller, smarter, and cheaper to produce. The company will also further develop its own microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) specifically for the consumer goods industry. One example of this type of project is a new projection module that is small enough to be built into the temple of a pair of smartglasses.

“In order to cement our leading market position in MEMS technology, we also plan to manufacture our MEMS sensors on 300-millimeter wafers,” Hartung said. “Production is scheduled to start in 2026. Our new wafer fab gives us the opportunity to scale production – an advantage we intend to exploit to the full.”

Bosch has been mass-producing silicon carbide (SiC) chips at the company’s Reutlingen plant since the end of 2021. With powerful market growth, at annual rates of 30 percent or more, demand for SiC chips remains high, keeping Bosch’s order books full. To try make power electronics more affordable and more efficient, Bosch will also look into new technologies.

“We’re also looking into the development of chips based on gallium nitride for electromobility applications,” Hartung said. “Before they can be used in vehicles, GaN chips will have to become more robust and able to withstand substantially higher voltages of up to 1,200 volts.”

The new investment will be planned within the framework of the European Chips Act. The European Union and German federal government are providing additional funding to develop a robust ecosystem for the European microelectronics industry to attempt to double Europe’s slice of global semiconductor production from 10 to 20 percent by the end of the decade. The newly launched IPCEI on Microelectronics and Communication Technology is intended primarily to promote research and innovation.

“Europe can and must capitalize on its own strengths in the semiconductor industry,” Hartung said. “More than ever, the goal must be to produce chips for the specific needs of European industry. And that means not only chips at the bottom end of the nanoscale. Electronic components used in the electromobility industry, for example, require process sizes of between 40 and 200 nanometers. This is exactly what the Bosch wafer fabs are designed for.”

Bosch has already made several investments in its semiconductor business over the past few years, including a new wafer fab in Dresden, which opened in June 2021. At 1 billion euros, it is the single biggest investment in the company’s history. The semiconductor center in Reutlingen is also being systematically expanded: between now and 2025, Bosch is to invest around 400 million euros in the expansion of manufacturing capacity and the conversion of existing factory space into new clean-room space. This includes construction of a new extension in Reutlingen, which will create an additional 3,600 square meters of ultramodern clean-room space. All in all, clean-room space in Reutlingen is set to grow from around 35,000 square meters at present to over 44,000 square meters by the end of 2025.

https://www.bosch.com/