Bosch factory in Dresden: first wafers manufactured, opening in summer

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In the new Bosch semiconductor factory in Dresden, silicon wafers are being produced fully automatically for the first time. This is considered a decisive step on the way to the start of series production, which the company plans for the end of 2021. The factory is due to open in June this year.

With the new wafer factory in Dresden, Bosch is expanding its production capacities for the ever larger fields of application of semiconductors and the great demand for microchips, especially for cars. Bosch is investing around one billion euros in high-tech manufacturing, which is one of the most modern chip factories in the world. The new building is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, the money comes from the pots of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

Test phase in full swing

An automated short run of the first parts of the highly complex production technology took place in November 2020, after the shell had been completed a year earlier. As usual, equipping a factory not only takes the most time, it also takes the most money.

The first wafers have been in production in Dresden since the end of January 2021. Bosch uses this to manufacture power semiconductors only for its own needs, which are later used, for example, in DC voltage converters in electric and hybrid vehicles. The wafers are on the road in production for six weeks and pass around 250 individual work steps fully automatically. The microchip prototypes can now be used and tested in electronic components for the first time.

Starting this month, Bosch will start the first production runs of highly complex integrated circuits. Then the wafers go through around 700 process steps on the way to the finished semiconductor chip in more than ten weeks.

Bosch pulls several thousand chips from a single 300 mm wafer; the smallest process is 65 nm – chips for modern CPUs, GPUs and SoCs are manufactured by TSMC in 5 nm. The full automation of production and real-time data exchange between the machines should also make production in Dresden particularly efficient, explains Bosch. In the final expansion phase, only 700 people will ultimately work in the production facility in Dresden. They control and monitor production and maintain the machines.

Update 07.06.2021 11:16 am

Today, June 7th, 2021, the official opening ceremony of the new Bosch factory will take place walk. From 2:30 p.m. it will also be available via the online webcast.