[첨 [Exclusive] 산 [Exclusive]이 산업지도 바꾼다] 〈1〉 Semiconductor Heart ‘Silicon Saxony’
Large-scale investment by global competitors
High-tech industrial complex as an advance base for technological wars
On the 27th of last month (local time), the outskirts of ‘Silicon Saxony’, a semiconductor industrial complex in Dresden, Saxony, Germany.
The empty lot in front of the semiconductor production facility of Infineon Technologies, Germany’s largest semiconductor company, was filled with the roar of heavy equipment such as excavators and trucks that dig and load soil. “The 300mm wafer (semiconductor substrate) clean room is planned to start operating in the fall of 2026,” said Diana Kasserer, public relations manager of the company. Strict vigilance scenes, such as barbed wire surrounding the empty lot of Yeoseonji, a semiconductor production base for electric vehicles, a key industry of the country, and closed circuit (CC) TV cameras installed in various places, also caught my eye.
Amid fierce competition between the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China over leadership in the global advanced semiconductor supply chain, large-scale investments are continuing in Silicon Saxony, which produces one out of three semiconductors produced in Europe. About 2,500 companies that have moved into this place raise about 23 trillion won in annual sales through synergies.
Three years later, an additional clean room the size of three soccer fields (20,000 square meters) will be added to the construction site. The existing production facility (about 40,000 m2) will be increased by 1.5 times. Infineon, the global leader in automotive semiconductors, is investing 5 billion euros (approximately 7 trillion won), the largest scale since its foundation, in clean room expansion. Bosch also decided to invest 100 million euros (about 140 billion won) in expanding its production facilities this year. Armin Reis, director of information and communication technology (ICT) at the Saxony Economic Development Corporation, said, “After the European Union (EU) announced its policy to implement the ‘European Semiconductor Act’, which provides large-scale subsidies to companies investing in member countries, investment inquiries from global companies increased.” .
Recently, global bio companies have been visiting the biotech cluster in Kendall Square next to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA, which is famous for being nicknamed “the most innovative square mile on Earth.” Nine of the world’s top 10 biopharmaceutical companies have research and development (R&D) centers here. Domestic companies such as Hanmi Pharmaceutical and LG Chem are also establishing bases in Boston.
As such, technologically advanced countries are concentrating their efforts on creating a high-tech industrial ecosystem with the conviction that high-tech industrial complexes that create added value of tens of trillions of won each year will become a base for the global technology war.
《Recently, among technologically advanced countries around the world, competition for supremacy over cutting-edge technologies such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and displays is fiercely unfolding. Korea is also rushing to create a high-tech industry ecosystem to gain an edge in the process of restructuring the global supply chain. After selecting 15 candidate sites for national high-tech industrial complexes last month, it plans to designate specialized national high-tech strategic industrial complexes in the first half of the year (January to June). We looked back at the scene of fierce competition at home and abroad surrounding the high-tech industrial complex, the forward base of the global technology war.”
A clean room of Infineon Technologies in ‘Silicon Saxony’, a high-tech semiconductor industrial complex in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. Infineon plans to invest about 7 trillion won to operate an additional 20,000 square meters of clean room for 300mm wafer production in 2026. When the new clean room is completed, the existing production facility will increase by 1.5 times. Courtesy of Infineon Technologies‘Weiying~.’
On the 27th of last month (local time), ‘Silicon Saxony’, a semiconductor industrial complex in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. In the clean room of the Infineon Technologies plant, a sound resembling that of a subway train was intermittently heard. It was the sound of dozens of robots the size of children’s trains moving fast, suspended from ceiling rails with a total length of about 13 km.
Each robot loaded plastic containers containing 25 sheets of 300mm wafers (semiconductor substrates), and when it reached the designated section, it separated the wafer containers as if dropping off passengers. In the clean room, only two or three employees wearing dustproof suits and managing machines were occasionally seen. Reich Bretschneider, Vice Chairman of Infineon, explained, “The process is 100% automated.”
The world’s major semiconductor companies are currently immersed in competition to produce 300mm wafers used in electric vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI) equipment. In order to survive in the fierce global competition, companies in Silicon Saxony are fighting speed battles with automation as a weapon. This is the result of increasing the level of automation from an early stage in accordance with the German government’s ‘Industry 4.0’ policy.
In addition, in Silicon Saxony, a high-tech industrial complex representing Europe, semiconductor companies, related companies, and customer companies are gathering to build a semiconductor ecosystem. Four global semiconductor conglomerates, including Infineon, Global Foundry, Bosch, and Xfab, have nested here. “It is rare to see an industrial complex in which four semiconductor powerhouse companies moved in at once,” said Stefan Ulrich, silicon project manager at Saxony.
Jeong Yoo-yeop, CEO of Nanotech Digital, who founded Nanotech Digital in Dresden in 2016 after running a semiconductor parts manufacturer in Korea, said, “It is difficult for Samsung and LG to collaborate in Korea, but here, purchasing managers from competitors meet regularly and share good business partners.”
To understand the background of global makers collaborating, you need to know the characteristics of Silicon Saxony.
Silicon Saxony is basically a consultative body of private companies. In 2000, 15 companies voluntarily formed a council and collected membership fees to hold investment attraction events or exchange information. Learning how to create synergy with each other, it has grown rapidly in 23 years and currently employs 70,000 people. As of last year, 2,500 places moved in, and annual sales reached 23 trillion won.
Local governments are actively supporting private consultative bodies from the side. Companies investing in Saxony for the first time can receive half of their labor costs for about five years or 25 to 30 percent of their facility investment costs if they meet the requirements for the number of employees and salary cap. The state of Saxony is also actively working to resolve corporate difficulties, such as simplifying the process for permitting new factories. Brett Schneider, Vice Chairman of Infineon, said, “Production is stabilized only when energy and water are solidly supplied. However, the local government encouraged (energy and water) related companies to invest in the area.”
In the case of new startups, they can receive ‘triple support’ from the German federal government and the European Union (EU) as well as the state of Saxony. Spincloud Systems, a start-up that develops AI semiconductors, received 2.5 million euros (about 3.5 billion won) from the EU early last month. Two German federal government ministries also provided 250,000 euros (about 350 million won) and 500,000 euros (about 700 million won), respectively, last year.
Another strength is that skilled human resources are produced in close exchange with companies in the industrial complex.
The ‘Dresden Chip Academy’ in the industrial complex is a joint education platform for tenant companies. If a company pays for training, the academy trains its employees. Even before formally joining the company, students can learn practical skills while taking a degree course at a university. Korean Ambassador to Germany Kim Hong-gyun said, “Since there are automobile companies gathered in Leipzig near Saxony, demand for automotive semiconductors is abundant, and the fact that the Fraunhofer Institute and the Technical University of Dresden are cooperating with companies is worth referring to in Korea.”
Dresden =
Boston =
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.