The new investment will boost manufacturing capacity at all sites while supporting research and development into areas such as gallium nitride-based (GaN) wide bandgap semiconductors and power management ICs. It will also underpin recruitment activities, with Nexperia looking to attract new chip designers and engineers.
“This is an exciting time in the global semiconductor market, which has mounted a resurgence since the challenges of the first half of last year,” said Achim Kempe, Nexperia’s Chief Operating Officer. “Nexperia reported robust product sales of $1.4bn in 2020, with demand accelerating rapidly in Q3 and Q4. That momentum has been maintained so far this year, and we expect it to continue over the long term. The $700 million investment will ensure that we continue to provide the technology and manufacturing capacity needed to deliver products in volumes that support increasing demand.”
As a result, the capacity of the Hamburg fab in Germany – which currently produces more than 35,000 wafers (8-inch-equivalent) per month (70 billion semiconductors per year) – will further increase by 20 per cent from mid-2022. While in the UK, at Nexperia’s dedicated TrenchMOS fabrication facility in Manchester, the capacity will rise by 10 per cent by mid-2022 from the current 24,000 wafers (8-inch-equivalent) per month.
There will also be a significant expansion of research and development activities, with new laboratories and other facilities across all sites. This includes Nexperia’s headquarters in Nijmegen, where the Analog & Logic business group is located.
Recruitment activities will also be stepped up, as Nexperia looks to fill over 200 global vacancies primarily across various technical roles.
“Even before the pandemic started, Nexperia had a strong global growth strategy in place,” said Toni Versluijs, general manager of Nexperia’s MOSFETs and GaN FETs business. “These efforts are now paying off. An example is the imminent release of our first power MOSFETs from the new 8-inch production line in Manchester. As the recovery continues, we are committed to ongoing investment in products, processes and people across our factories and R&D facilities. This sustained activity reflects our belief in the long-term prospects for the power semiconductor sector.”
