Top European chipmaker Infineon has kicked off production at its largest-ever power chip plant in Malaysia, marking a win for the Southeast Asian nation as it attempts to move up the global semiconductor supply chain. The plant in Kulim will be the world's biggest factory for silicon carbide (SiC) once it reaches full capacity over next five years, the company said. Infineon is eyeing demand from the renewable energy sector and electrified applications such as electric vehicles and AI data centers. Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck said production was able to begin "several months" ahead of schedule thanks in part to the new plant's virtual connection to the company's key development and production center in Villach, Austria. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also attended, underscoring the government's commitment to attracting more chip investment and cultivating a bigger tech workforce. "Today's events marks a major, a huge milestone ... to showcase that we are able to attract world-class investments," he said. Malaysia is already home to Infineon's biggest chip production site in Asia as well as its largest chip packaging and assembly operations in the world. Ng Kok Tiong, senior vice president and managing director of Infineon Kulim, said Infineon has about 15,000 employees in Malaysia, more than anywhere else in the world, including its home of Germany. As a market leader in power and microcontroller chips, Infineon is eyeing multiple types of wide-bandgap semiconductors for next-generation power solutions, including those built on SiC and gallium nitride (GaN). Wide-bandgap semiconductors have higher temperature and voltage tolerance than chips built on normal silicon wafers. SiC chips are vital for applications such as high-power electric vehicle charging solutions and renewable energy infrastructure, while energy-dense GaN chips can be used to make chargers and adapters smaller. "Compared with silicon-based power solutions, with SiC, we can double the power density in the same size, or we can put the same power in the half size," Raj Kumar, senior vice president of technology and R&D at Infineon Kulim, told reporters. For fiscal 2024, which ends in September, Infineon forecasts at least 600 million euros ($656 million) in revenue from SiC-related solutions. The company said it would spend an extra 5 billion euros for a second phase of its Kulim plant, which has already secured 1 billion euros in prepayments and approximately 5 billion euros in design win commitments from customers. The increasing need for energy efficiency and higher power output is driving demand for wide-bandgap semiconductor devices across various sectors, such as EVs, 5G infrastructure and power converters. (Nikkei) (ICE KUALA LUMPUR)

Fonte notizia: 09/08/2024, Kuala Lumpur