My understanding is that these are pretty low-tech chips only for industrial uses?
they may low-density, but low-tech?
Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
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Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#12My understanding is that these are pretty low-tech chips only for industrial uses?
Also suitable for keeping an economy functioning and weaponry in war.
You might not be able to fabricate billion terraflop GPUs but at least the basics of survival will be able to be locally produced without scavenging washing machines for parts.
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#13As I mentioned about this before [0], this is a compound semiconductor fab - a very critical bottleneck for European industry and a much more worrisome NatSec issue than sub-14nm logical chip fabrication or arguably even AI. This is not directly related to AI or logical compute, so kvetching about GPUs, SoCs, TSMC, AI, and other buzzwords is dumb. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557914
I would also like to see local PCB manufacturers - pcbway etc like. Modern production facilities might even be locally competitive given the amount of automation that can be had.
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#14As I mentioned about this before [0], this is a compound semiconductor fab - a very critical bottleneck for European industry and a much more worrisome NatSec issue than sub-14nm logical chip fabrication or arguably even AI. This is not directly related to AI or logical compute, so kvetching about GPUs, SoCs, TSMC, AI, and other buzzwords is dumb. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557914
I would also like to see local PCB manufacturers - pcbway etc like. Modern production facilities might even be locally competitive given the amount of automation that can be had.
They should, but sadly it's extremely difficult for PCB board manufacturing to return to Europe.
EU has FTAs with Japan and SK, and others that dominate the segment like Taiwan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and India have already unlocked public-private subsidized for the sector.
Additionally, the big players in the industry like ZDT, Unimicron, Nippon Mekatron, Foxconn, Compeq, TTM, and Flex have much stronger financial and political linkages in Asia or the Americas.
This fab itself is important, but was extremely difficult to stand-up and was largely a result of the supply chain issues that the automotive industry faced during zero covid, so it basically took 6 years to execute on this project. That lag-time is the biggest issue unless individual European states decide to take industrial policy their own hands, which becomes expensive very quickly.
Concentrating on building a niche in compound semiconductors as well as 2.5/3D packaging would probably be the best bet for the EU today, but I expect to see French-German industrial rivalry to undermine coordination.
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#15My understanding is that these are pretty low-tech chips only for industrial uses?
Germany doesn't design high end SoCs or x86 processors so why would they build a fab for them?
Designing a secure platform is possible within the EU[1].
[1]They need to use US EDA tools, And manufacture masks but maybe there are tricks they won't need to trust them - like inspecting critical parts of the masks.
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#16Funny that the article didn't mention it.
Infineon got €1bn of tax payer money to open the plant (~$1.1bn).
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#17As I mentioned about this before [0], this is a compound semiconductor fab - a very critical bottleneck for European industry and a much more worrisome NatSec issue than sub-14nm logical chip fabrication or arguably even AI. This is not directly related to AI or logical compute, so kvetching about GPUs, SoCs, TSMC, AI, and other buzzwords is dumb. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557914
I would also like to see local PCB manufacturers - pcbway etc like. Modern production facilities might even be locally competitive given the amount of automation that can be had.
Does AISLER[1] do the same thing as pcbway? They seem to be based in Germany/EU
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#18My understanding is that these are pretty low-tech chips only for industrial uses?
> these are pretty low-tech chips only for industrial uses I don't like this framing. These aren't logic ICs but that doesn't mean they are useless or "easy". Heck, the only countries with Gallium Nitride fabrication capabilities and knowhow are the US, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and India. In fact, compound semiconductors and power electronics is one segment where Europe's China dependency is extrem…
In 2024 Belgium closed its only semi fab, which had recently pivoted to GaN.
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would also like to see local PCB manufacturers - pcbway etc like. Modern production facilities might even be locally competitive given the amount of automation that can be had.
Does AISLER[1] do the same thing as pcbway? They seem to be based in Germany/EU [1] https://aisler.net/en
Netherlands actually
Re: Germany’s Infineon opens major chip plant as EU seeks tech autonomy
#20Funny that the article didn't mention it. Infineon got €1bn of tax payer money to open the plant (~$1.1bn).
The article says:
> The facility was backed by the EU's Chips Act with one billion euros in subsidies