Three years after the foundation stone was laid, Infineon has officialized the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Cegléd, Hungary, to meet the demand for power semiconductor modules that help the electrification of vehicles and enable green energy for wind turbines, solar modules, and energy-efficient industrial drives.

“We have today officially opened a new fab, complementing the existing fab [in Cegléd],” Infineon spokesman Gregor Rodehüser told EE Times Europe.

The production ramp-up began in February 2022, and Rodehüser confirmed that “the first products have been delivered over the last months.” It will produce power semiconductor modules for Infineon’s Automotive (ATV) division to foster electromobility and provide additional capacity for Infineon’s Industrial Power Control (IPC) division, Rodehüser said.

This new facility represents a €100 million investment and is expected to create 275 jobs, bringing the total workforce to about 1,600.

“As is usually the case with new fabs, staffing and production volumes are continuously increased over time, depending on several factors, such as availability of further equipment and workforce, market development,” Rodehüser said. “The decisive factor is that the new fab enables us to react to an increase in customer demand, which we have seen and are expecting to further increase.”

The long-term growth trends include decarbonization and digitization. Energy-efficiency solutions are key to meeting the growing demand for energy while contributing to CO2-saving measures to limit global warming in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

During the third-quarter earnings call in August 2022, Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon, said, “Demand for some of our core consumer applications is declining, such as PCs, smartphones, televisions, domestic appliances, and battery-operated equipment. Nevertheless, the structural drivers, decarbonization and digitization, are ensuring that there’s still a high demand for semiconductors, and key applications such as automotive industry, renewable energies, data centers, and IoT remain robust.”

To support the electrification process, the new fab will produce semiconductor modules for inverters in electric and hybrid vehicles.

At the foundation stone ceremony in September 2019, Hanebeck, who was COO at the time, declared, “With our new factory in Cegléd, we invest in the future growth of e-mobility. The automotive industry is facing unprecedented transformation, if you think about digitalization, security, e-mobility, artificial intelligence … But what I’m very sure about [is that] the future of the car will be electric. Otherwise, we will not be able to tackle our climate change issue. With a framework we find here in Hungary, plus Industry 4.0 measures, we think this will be a very competitive manufacturing site for these products.”

Infineon has been present in Hungary for more than 25 years as a manufacturer of semiconductor products.

Infineon Opens €1.6bn 300mm Fab in Villach Ahead of Schedule

Anne-Françoise Pelé is editor-in-chief of EE Times Europe.