Bosch opens semiconductor factory in Dresden

Bosch has opened a new semiconductor factory in Germany with the goal of supplying the automotive industry with the much-needed components from September.

Semiconductors are used throughout a car and help to control certain aspects such as infotainment systems and mains screens as well as power steering and brake sensors. Many parts of a car simply wouldn’t work without these important ‘chips’.

However, a recent shortage has plunged the motoring industry into disarray with customers forced to endure long wait times as manufacturers suffer setbacks in production while awaiting fresh deliveries of semiconductors.

Bosch’s new site is expected to start producing semiconductors for its power tool this July before it begins creating chips for automotive customers in September.

Costing €1 billion (around £860 million) to build, the facility in Dresden is set to create around 700 jobs.

Harald Kroeger, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH, said: “Chips for vehicles are the ultimate discipline in semiconductor technology. This is because in cars, these small building blocks have to be especially robust.

“Semiconductors are the building blocks of progress. Electronic components equipped with chips from Dresden will make applications such as automated and resource-conserving driving possible, as well as the best possible occupant protection.”

Kroeger added that chips used in vehicles needed to be robust as they are often exposed to ‘strong vibrations and extreme temperatures that range from far below freezing to far above the boiling point of water’.