Chipmaker Nexperia invests US$200mil in Germany

Nexperia plans to add lines in Hamburg making two types of “wide bandgap” chips. — Reuters

AMSTERDAM: Nexperia, one of the world’s largest makers of basic semiconductors such as diodes and transistors, says it will invest US$200mil to expand capacity at its main production site in Hamburg, Germany.

The investment by Dutch-headquarted Nexperia, owned by Chinese electronics maker WingTech, is a rare example of a computer chip investment made in Europe without assistance from state subsidies under the European Union’s Chips Act launched in 2023.

It also comes as the European Union is considering whether China is unfairly subsidising domestic Chinese production of “legacy” chips, found in cars and household appliances, such as those made in Europe by Nexperia.

Electric cars, “green energy and digitalisation are inconceivable without our products,” chief financial officer Stefan Tilger said in a statement announcing the investment decision. “They are the nuts and bolts that make new technologies possible.”

Nexperia makes 100 billion such chips annually, nearly a quarter of the world’s supply, with production in Europe and assembly and packaging in China, Malaysia and the Philippines.

However, since its US$3.6bil acquisition by WingTech in 2018, Nijmegen, Netherlands-based Nexperia has been subjected to increasing scrutiny by European governments.

Nexperia plans to add lines in Hamburg making two types of “wide bandgap” chips, which have important uses in electrical infrastructure.

These chips are favoured over regular silicon chips for their efficiency, speed, light weight, and ability to function under hot conditions and high voltages. — Reuters