In an additional move to combat the ongoing global chip shortage, Bosch plans to further extend its wafer fab in Reutlingen. More than a quarter of a billion euros is to be invested in creating new production space and the necessary clean-room facilities between now and 2025. This will give Bosch the firepower to meet the continuously growing demand for chips used in mobility and IoT applications.
“We are systematically expanding our manufacturing capacity for semiconductors in Reutlingen,” says Dr. Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH. “This new investment will not only strengthen our competitive position, but will also benefit our customers and help combat the crisis in the semiconductor supply chain.”
The construction of a new extension in Reutlingen will create an additional 3,600 square meters of ultramodern clean-room space. As of 2025, this additional capacity will produce semiconductors based on technology already in place at the Reutlingen plant. Bosch is also extending an existing power supply facility and will construct an additional building for media supply systems serving both the new and existing production areas. The new production area is scheduled to go into operation in 2025. In October 2021, Bosch announced it would be spending more than 400 million euros in 2022 alone on expanding its semiconductor operations in Dresden and Reutlingen, Germany, and in Penang, Malaysia. Around 50 million euros of this sum is earmarked for the wafer fab in Reutlingen.
In addition, Bosch also announced plans to invest a total of 150 million euros in the creation of additional clean-room space in existing buildings at the Reutlingen facility over the period from 2021 to 2023. The further expansion of the site, which will see a new extension to the manufacturing facilities, will now supplement these measures. All in all, clean-room space in Reutlingen is set to grow from around 35,000 square meters at present to over 44,000 square meters by the end of 2025. State-of the-art semiconductor manufacture The Reutlingen wafer fabs use 150- and 200-millimeter technology, while the Dresden plant makes chips on 300-millimeter wafers. Both employ cutting-edge manufacturing methods based on data-driven process control.
“AI methods combined with connectivity have helped us achieve continuous, data-driven improvement in manufacturing and thereby produce better and better chips,” says Markus Heyn, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector. This includes the development of software to enable automated classification of defects. Bosch is also using AI to enhance materials flows. With its high level of automation, this state-of-the art production environment in Reutlingen will safeguard the plant’s future and the jobs of the people working there.
