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Renesas Electronics Corporation announced a new organizational structure and leadership team appointments. These changes will take effect January 1, 2024, and will support the company in its next phase of growth and development to become the leader in embedded semiconductor solutions.
1. Establishment of four technology-based product groups
Renesas is establishing a technology-based organization designed to provide more comprehensive and tailored solution offerings. This is aimed at effectively addressing the converging needs of customers and markets by leveraging our embedded processing, analog, power, and connectivity expertise to create complete solutions. The new organization will also enable the company to capitalize on the scale advantages by fostering more cross selling opportunities and broader customer coverage. As part of these changes, Renesas’ businesses will be restructured into four new product groups.
- Analog & Connectivity
Davin Lee, currently Vice President of Advanced Analog Division, will assume the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of Analog & Connectivity. Under Davin’s leadership, the group will be responsible for analog products as well as the company’s vast portfolio of connectivity products.
- Embedded Processing
Toshihiko Seki, currently Vice President of MCU Device Solution Division, will assume the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of Embedded Processing. He will be responsible for Renesas’ entire standard catalog embedded processing products. The group is designed to accelerate the company’s efforts to provide more catalog products and solutions to go deeper and broader with new and existing customers.
- High Performance Computing
Vivek Bhan, who currently holds the position of Senior Vice President and Co-General Manager of High Performance Computing, Analog and Power Solutions Group, will assume the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of High Performance Computing. He will be responsible for the company’s custom and application-specific high computing products.
- Power
Chris Allexandre who currently serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (CSMO) and Head of the Global Sales and Marketing Unit will take on a new role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Power. Chris will be responsible for overseeing Renesas’ power management and discrete products and executing the company’s power strategies.
2. Establishment of new Software & Digitalization team and centralization of Operations, Engineering and key foundational organizations
In addition to the establishment of four product groups, Renesas has also taken steps to streamline its organizational structure by establishing new groups of functions. The new organizations will serve as centralized foundations across all lines of business to better support customers, enhance performance and add value.
- Software & Digitalization
As the company aims to transform the way customers design solutions through an innovative cloud-based platform, Renesas has recently welcomed Buvna Ayyagari as Vice President of the new Software & Digitalization organization to spearhead this effort. Buvna will be responsible for driving Renesas’ unified vision for software and digitalization, ensuring they become a powerful differentiator for the company.
Buvna brings rich and multi-disciplinary expertise across the semiconductor industry from Applied Materials, Synopsys and Intel. She held leadership positions in Engineering, Field Applications Engineering, Marketing, Pre- and Post-sales Customer Support and drove products from definition to high volume. Buvna has experiences in leading digital transformations and has helped to build a team from the ground up to define a software platform, making her well-equipped to continue to drive Renesas’ excellence in software and digitalization.
- Operations
Renesas is accelerating efforts to drive operational excellence to improve service, quality and profitability. Dr. Sailesh Chittipeddi, currently Executive Vice President, General Manager of Embedded Processing, Digital Power and Signal Chain Solutions Group, will take on a new role to oversee the new operations organization. This brings Renesas’ entire manufacturing, supply chain and procurement into a single organization chartered to lead the company’s operational and strategic initiatives to provide exceptional customer experiences.
- Engineering
Renesas is creating a centralized engineering organization to solidify Renesas’ engineering foundation, from product to test engineering. This new organization will direct the development and execution of the company’s technology and product roadmaps. Takeshi Kataoka, Senior Vice President and Co-General Manager of High Performance Computing, Analog and Power Solutions Group, will newly head this Engineering organization.
- Quality Assurance
Takeshi Kataoka will also oversee the Quality Assurance function as Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering and Quality Assurance. His experience and profound expertise in leading Renesas’ automotive semiconductor business will help the company to continue to assure supreme quality levels throughout its products and solutions.
- Sales & Marketing
Bobby Matinpour, who currently serves as Vice President of Global Strategic Vertical & Regional Sales, will succeed Chris Allexandre in the role of Senior Vice President, CSMO and Head of Sales & Marketing.
These leaders in addition to leaders of each of four product groups will report directly to the CEO. This will allow them to have greater influence on Renesas’ strategy and execution, while enhancing accountability.
Hiroto Nitta will retire from his role of Senior Vice President of Information Technology. In addition to his current role, Nitta served multiple managerial positions at Renesas including Vice President and Deputy General Manager of Global Sales Units as well as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager of Broad-Based Solution Business Unit. He also served as Senior Vice President and Head of SoC Business in the IoT and Infrastructure Business. Renesas appreciates Nitta’s work over the past 40 years helping the company advance its product leadership and wish him and his family all the best for the future.
As a result of the organizational changes, Roger Wendelken, who has been serving as Senior Vice President and Head of Embedded Microcontroller in the Embedded Processing, Digital Power and Signal Chain Solutions Group will leave Renesas. Roger joined Renesas in 2017 following the Intersil acquisition. He contributed to Renesas as leader of worldwide sales for the broad-based solution business. In his current position, Roger played an instrumental role in releasing the ARM-based RA microcontrollers. The company is grateful to Roger for his significant achievements at Renesas.
Andrew Cowell will retire from his role of Senior Vice President and Head of Performance Power. Since joining Renesas in 2017 from Intersil, Andrew guided the foundation in strengthening the growth and market share gains of the digital multiphase controllers and smart power stages for the infra core power businesses. Renesas thanks Andrew for his remarkable contribution and wishes him all the best for his retirement.
Hiroto Nitta, Roger Wendelken and Andrew Cowell will assist with the transition and leave Renesas by the end of the year.
Brief Biography of the Newly Appointed Leadership Team Members
Davin Lee
Mr. Lee serves as the Vice President and General Manager of the Advanced Analog Division at Renesas Electronics Corporation. He joined Renesas in August 2021 through the acquisition of Dialog Semiconductor PLC where he was the Senior Vice President of the Advanced Mixed-Signal Business.
Prior to Dialog Semiconductor, Mr. Lee held executive-level management positions at numerous semiconductor companies including Scintera Networks (CEO), Intersil (VP/GM of Power Management), Xicor (VP of Marketing), Altera and National Semiconductor.
Davin Lee holds a BSEE degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA degree from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Toshihiko Seki
Mr. Seki serves as the Vice President of MCU Device Solution Business Division at Renesas Electronics Corporation since January 2022. In this role, he is mainly responsible for leading the company’s proprietary RL78 microcontroller (MCU) business and has been instrumental in achieving global leading market share position for the 16-bit MCU architecture category.
Mr. Seki has more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductors industry. He started his career in ASIC/memory product marketing at Hitachi, Ltd., and held various marketing management positions at Renesas, including Director of Marketing & Business operations at Renesas Electronics America.
Mr. Seki holds a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Sophia University, Japan.
Bobby Matinpour
Mr. Matinpour serves as the Vice President of Global Strategic Vertical & Regional Sales at Renesas Electronics Corporation since April 2022. Previously at Renesas, he was the Vice President of Timing and Standard Product Business Division since March 2019.
Prior to joining Renesas, he served as the Vice President of High Speed Data & Clock Business Unit at Texas Instruments. A 20-year veteran of semiconductor industry, Mr. Matinpour has a diverse and wholistic industry experience covering engineering, product marketing, operations, and sales management for a wide-range of products and solutions addressing industrial, infrastructure, consumer, and automotive markets.
Prior to joining Texas Instruments, Mr. Matinpour held various engineering and marketing management positions at National Semiconductor, Epson-Toyocom, and several semiconductor startups.
Mr. Matinpour holds a BSEE from Virginia Tech and MS and PhD EE from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Buvna Ayyagari
Ms. Ayyagari joined Renesas in August 2023 as Vice President of Software and Digitalization. In this newly created role, Ms. Ayyagari is responsible for spearheading the definition, development, and implementation of a market leading platform with industry standard customer tools.
Ms. Ayyagari brings rich and multi-disciplinary expertise across the semiconductor industry from Applied Materials (AMAT), Synopsys (IP and EDA) and Intel where she held executive and leadership positions in R&D, Product Engineering, Field Applications Engineering, Marketing, Pre- and Post-sales Customer Support and drove products from definition to high volume.
Ms. Ayyagari holds a master’s degree in computer engineering from the University of South Carolina. She is the author of several publications and patents and serves on the Board of non-profit organizations.
Original – Renesas Electronics
- Analog & Connectivity
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DISCO Corporation has made a decision to build a new building at the Haneda R&D Center (Higashi Kojiya, Ota-ku). Construction will begin in April 2025 and is scheduled for completion at the end of March 2027. With the construction of the new building, DISCO aims to further enhance its R&D functions, enabling it to respond to the future needs of the semiconductor and electronic component markets.
The existing buildings, which were acquired in March 2022, were originally designed and built by a previous owner for training flight crews and as a data center. As these buildings have a relatively large amount of floor space with high load-bearing capacity, they were put into use as a development site upon the fitting of utilities such as water supply, drainage, and compressed air.
However, with the recent increase in development, DISCO has decided to construct a new building with an increased amount of floor space suitable for development. This new building will be constructed such that it can be expanded if more floor space for development becomes necessary.
Two of the seven existing buildings will be demolished to make room for the new building. The five remaining buildings will continue to be used with the purpose of R&D, as well as enhancing DISCO’s production system during periods of high demand.
Original – DISCO
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The Infineon Technologies AG Supervisory Board has appointed Elke Reichart to the Management Board effective November 1, 2023. As Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO), she succeeds Constanze Hufenbecher, who has decided not to renew her expiring contract. As CDTO, Elke Reichart will among other things be responsible for group-wide digitalization projects, IT infrastructure and Infineon’s sustainability strategy.
“Fully leveraging the opportunities of the digital transformation is a key leadership task. I am therefore delighted to have Elke Reichart, an internationally experienced and high-profile technology manager, join the Infineon Management Board. She has proven in her career that she can further develop international organizations and successfully implement digitization projects,” said Herbert Diess, Chairman of Infineon’s Supervisory Board. “On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Constanze Hufenbecher for her outstanding work. She has successfully built up the CDTO department and together we decided that November 1 was a suitable time to hand over the baton.”
“Green and digital transformation go hand in hand – and Infineon is driving both. In this context, digitalization is also a crucial lever for our own company. I am very much looking forward to working with Elke Reichart. She will bring new perspectives and impetus to the Management Board and use her extensive experience to help lead Infineon into an even more successful future,” said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon.
“I would like to sincerely thank Constanze Hufenbecher for the good collaboration. With the Digital Agenda and the Sustainability Strategy, she has laid important foundations and shaped a culture of cross-departmental collaboration.”
“Digitalization is an integral part of Infineon’s strategy. A differentiating service and product portfolio, better interaction with customers, faster and more efficient processes: digital solutions support Infineon’s strategy in many ways. I look forward to soon being part of this great company and I thank the Supervisory Board for their trust,” says Elke Reichart.
Elke Reichart was Chief Digital Officer of TUI Group from 2018 to 2021, where she was responsible for the Group’s digitalization strategy, among other things. Prior to that, she held various management positions at Hewlett Packard over a period of 25 years, including Vice President Strategy & Planning at HP’s headquarters in Palo Alto (California). During her time at HP, Elke Reichart was responsible for various transformation programs, each with a volume of several billion US dollars.
Original – Infineon Technologies
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The automotive industry is evolving at a rapid pace, with E-Mobility and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) driving the market’s need for innovative solutions. Microchip Technology announced the expansion of its Detroit Automotive Technology Center in Novi, Michigan. The 24,000-square-foot facility is the destination for automotive clients to explore new technologies and to meet with technical experts to get support for their end applications and designs.
Microchip has been part of the Detroit community since 1999, when it first opened its doors as an application and sales office. With the recent completion of phase three of its expansion project, Microchip has more than doubled its lab space, including the addition of new labs that focus on high-voltage and E-Mobility applications. This larger facility will also bring more technology-related jobs to the region.
“Microchip’s automotive business is a cornerstone of our company’s legacy. We remain focused on developing total system solutions, and this expansion provides our customers with immediate access to state-of-the-art resources,” said Rich Simoncic, executive vice president of Microchip. “In addition to the Detroit location, we have Automotive Technology Centers in Munich, Shanghai, Tokyo and Austin, Texas, to support our global customer base.”
“Microchip’s Automotive Technology Center demonstrates our commitment to the automotive industry by providing a destination for them to develop, test and refine applications in the design phase,” said Matthias Kaestner, corporate vice president of Microchip’s automotive business. “Our vision for the center is to provide our automotive customers with the confidence to choose the right solutions for their designs by helping them to cut design effort and time to market by providing world class technical support locally.”
Located in the heart of the automotive industry, and with top tier OEMs, suppliers and startups operating in the region, Novi is a key location for Microchip’s Detroit Automotive Technology Center and easily accessible to help OEMs with their design challenges.
The key capabilities of the Detroit Automotive Technology Center include:
- Dedicated high-voltage lab for demonstrations of reference designs featuring Microchip’s silicon carbide mSiC™ solutions, dsPIC® Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs) and our wide breadth of analog and mixed-signal solutions
- Support for central compute and zonal networks in ADAS platforms using Microchip’s PCIe® Gen 4 and Gen 5 switching hardware, single-pair Ethernet devices and development tools
- Human Machine Interface (HMI) lab to support the development of full-width cockpit displays; touchscreens; Knob-on-Display™ (KoD™) solutions; and buttons, sliders, and wheels with EMC testing
- USB and networking development resources for pre-certification of multimedia infotainment systems and media hubs for advanced USB Type-C® 3.2 protocol applications
- Die- and product-level characterization of automotive MEMS resonators and oscillators, including vacuum and wafer-scale probe and test, long-term aging, frequency stability, phase noise and jitter test capability
- Development of automotive security solutions using Microchip’s CryptoAutomotive™ TrustAnchor ICs, and onsite security training to learn how to implement secure elements in applications such as secure boot, message and hardware authentication and more
“The new high-voltage lab will help our automotive customers develop systems using our reference design platforms and analog, digital control and power solutions,” said Clayton Pillion, vice president of Microchip’s silicon carbide business unit. “As more OEMs transition to our E-Mobility offerings, we are ready to support them from the design phase to implementation.”
As a leading supplier of embedded solutions to global automotive OEMs, Microchip offers many automotive products that are qualified in accordance with AEC-Q100 requirements. Its automotive-qualified product portfolio includes microcontrollers, DSCs, USB and networking solutions, analog and interface products, SiC MOSFETs, serial EEPROMs and more.
Microchip also offers a broad portfolio of ISO 26262 functional safety ready and functional safety compliant devices that offer the latest hardware safety features and are supported by a comprehensive safety ecosystem to simplify the design and certification of safety-critical automotive applications.
Original – Microchip Technology
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Power Integrations™ is providing advanced PowiGaN™ gallium-nitride (GaN) technology, expert design support, and financial sponsorship for Team aCentauri in the 3,000 km Bridgestone World Solar Challenge later this month. Power Integrations’ Mr. Green will follow Team aCentauri and the 37 other entrants across the Australian Outback as they push the boundaries of innovation in efficiency, aerodynamics, speed and range for solar-powered cars.
“After studying Power Integrations’ extensive list of reference designs, Team aCentauri asked us to help them design a power converter based on the 750-volt, InnoSwitch™3-EP with PowiGaN technology,” said Trevor Hiatt, director of marketing at Power Integrations. “With our IC and expert design support, the team not only boosted energy efficiency to 95.7 percent while the system operates at maximum power, but also improved efficiency by more than 50 percent while the system drives light loads – which is most of the time.”
The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge begins in Darwin on October 22 and is expected to conclude in Adelaide on October 29.
Original – Power Integrations
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GlobalFoundries has been awarded $35 million in federal funding from the U.S. government to accelerate the manufacturing of GF’s differentiated gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon semiconductors at its facility in Essex Junction, Vermont. This funding brings GF closer to large-scale production of GaN chips, which are unique in their ability to handle high voltages and temperatures.
These chips are positioned to enable game-changing performance and efficiency in 5G and 6G cellular communications for infrastructure and handsets, automotive and industrial Internet of things (IoT), as well as power grids and other critical infrastructure.
With the new $35 million in funding, awarded by the Department of Defense’s Trusted Access Program Office (TAPO), GF plans to purchase additional tools to expand development and prototyping capabilities, moving closer to at-scale 200mm GaN-on-silicon semiconductor manufacturing.
As part of the investment, GF plans to implement new capabilities for reducing the exposure of GF and its customers to supply chain constraints of gallium, while improving the speed of development, assurance of supply and competitiveness of U.S-made GaN chips.
The funding builds on years of collaboration with the U.S. government – including $40 million in support from 2020-2022 – that leverages the talent of GF’s Vermont team and their 200mm semiconductor manufacturing experience, and applies it to GaN-on-silicon manufacturing. 200mm is state-of-the-art for GaN chip technology.
“Vermont is a leader in semiconductor innovation. This federal funding is welcome news, and will solidify our state’s position as a leader at the forefront of manufacturing next-generation chips,” said Senator Peter Welch. “It’s critical we support investment in this industry here in Vermont and in the U.S. – both for our local economic growth and for our national security. I look forward to continuing to fight for our domestic semiconductor and chip manufacturers in the Senate.”
“This strategic investment continues to strengthen our domestic ecosystem of critical dual-use commercial technologies, ensuring they’re readily available and secure for DoD utilization. In concert with key partners, we’re proactively shaping the future of our defense systems,” said The Honorable Christopher J. Lowman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment.
“GaN on silicon is an ideal technology for high performance radio frequency, high voltage power switching and control applications for emerging markets, and it’s important for 6G wireless communications, industrial IoT, and electric vehicles,” said Dr. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO of GF.
“GF has a longstanding partnership with the U.S. government, and this funding is critical to move GaN on silicon chips closer to volume production. These chips will enable our customers to realize bold new designs that push the envelope of energy efficiency and performance of critical technologies we rely on every day.”
GF’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, near Burlington, was among the first major semiconductor manufacturing sites in the United States. Today around 1,800 GF employees work at the site. Built on GF’s differentiated technologies, these GF-made chips are used in smartphones, automobiles, and communications infrastructure applications around the world.
The facility is a DMEA accredited Trusted Foundry and manufactures secure chips in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, for use in some of the nation’s most sensitive aerospace and defense systems.
Original – GlobalFoundries
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Axcelis Technologies, Inc. announced the shipment of the Company’s Purion EXE SiC Power Series™ 200mm high energy implanter to a leading SiC power device chipmaker located in Japan. The system will be used in high volume production of SiC power devices for use in automotive applications.
Executive Vice President of Marketing and Applications, Greg Redinbo, commented, “The power device market is one of the fastest growing segments in IC manufacturing, due in part to the robust growth in the electric vehicles market. The power device market is at a critical inflection point as chipmakers transition from 150mm to 200mm SiC wafers.
The Purion Power Series family is uniquely suited to excel at these applications due to its innovative platform that offers the flexibility to handle multiple wafer sizes, various substrate types and operate at various implant temperatures. We look forward to continuing to expand the Purion platform footprint in Japan and supporting our customers’ goals to increase their manufacturing capacity.”
Original – Axcelis Technologies
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ROHM has developed dual MOSFETs that integrate two 100V chips in a single package – ideal for fan motor drive applied in communication base stations and industrial equipment. New five-models have been added as part of the HP8KEx/HT8KEx (Nch+Nch) and HP8MEx (Nch+Pch) series.
Recent years have seen a transition to higher voltages from conventional 12V/24V to 48V systems in communication base stations and industrial equipment, – intending to achieve higher efficiency by reducing current values. In these situations, switching MOSFETs are required a withstand voltage of 100V to account for voltage fluctuations, as 48V power supplies are also used in the fan motors for cooling these applications.
However, increasing the breakdown voltage raises ON resistance (RDS(on)) (which is in a trade-off relationship), leading to decreased efficiency, making it difficult to achieve both lower RDS(on) and higher breakdown voltage. Moreover, unlike multiple individual drive MOSFETs normally applied in fan motors - dual MOSFETs that integrate two chips in one package are increasingly being adopted to save space.
In response, ROHM developed two new series – the HP8KEx/HT8KEx (Nch+Nch) and the HP8MEx (Nch+Pch) – that combine Nch and Pch MOSFET chips using the latest processes. Both series achieve the industry’s lowest RDS(on) by adopting new backside heat dissipation packages with excellent heat dissipation characteristics. As a result, RDS(on) is reduced by up to 56% compared with standard dual MOSFETs (19.6mΩ for the HSOP8 and 57.0mΩ for the HSMT8 Nch+Nch), contributing to significantly lower set power consumption.
At the same time, combining two chips in a single package provides greater space savings by reducing area considerably. For example, replacing two single-chip TO-252 MOSFETs with one HSOP8 decreases footprint by 77%.
Next, ROHM will continue to expand its dual MOSFET lineup to withstand voltages ideal for industrial equipment while also developing low-noise variants. This is expected to contribute to solving social issues such as environmental protection by saving space and reducing power consumption in various applications.
Application Examples
– Fan motors for communication base stations
– Fan motors for factory automation, and other industrial equipment
– Fan motors for data center servers, etc.Original – ROHM
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Micro Commercial Components introduced the latest auto-grade MOSFET in the TOLL package for today’s demanding e-mobility applications. AEC-Q101 qualified and ready to empower auto designs, MCC’s100V MCTL300N10YHE3 MOSFET delivers exceptional performance and unmatched reliability for a range of systems, including battery management systems, motor drives, and interior or exterior LED lighting.
Designed with split-gate trench (SGT) technology, this component features low on-resistance and high current density to maximize efficiency while handling power loads. It’s also a great replacement for traditional MOSFETs due to its enhanced performance. The innovative TOLL-8 package provides design flexibility due to its compact footprint and optimal heat dissipation to ensure safe operation in high-temperature environments.
Fully RoHS compliant, MCTL300N10YHE3 is the ideal solution for automotive applications.
Features & Benefits:
- Exceptional performance and reliability
- AEC-Q101 qualified
- SGT technology for improved performance
- Low on-resistance for enhanced efficiency
- High current density capabilities
- Low-profile TOLL package saves design space
- Excellent heat dissipation for reliable operation in high temperatures
- Halogen-free and lead-free finish for environmental friendliness and compliance with RoHS regulations
Original – Micro Commercial Components
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Infineon Technologies AG and Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have signed a multi-year supply agreement for silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si) power semiconductors. Infineon will build and reserve manufacturing capacity to supply SiC as well as Si power modules and chips to Hyundai/Kia until 2030. Hyundai/Kia will support the capacity build-up and capacity reservation with financial contributions.
“Infineon stands as a valued strategic partner, boasting steadfast production capabilities and distinct technological prowess within the power semiconductor market,” said Heung Soo Kim, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Strategy Office (GSO) at Hyundai Motor Group. “This partnership not only empowers Hyundai Motor and Kia to stabilize its semiconductor supply but also positions us to solidify our leadership in the global EV market, underpinned by our competitive product lineups.”
“The future car will be clean, safe and smart and semiconductors are at the heart of this transformation. As a trusted partner, we are proud to advance our long-term partnership with Hyundai/Kia,” said Peter Schiefer, President of Infineon’s Automotive Division. “We contribute premium products of high quality, our system knowledge and application understanding combined with continued investments in manufacturing capacity to address the increasing demand for automotive power electronics.”
Infineon’s power semiconductors are key enablers for the transition to electromobility. This transition will lead to strong market growth for power semiconductors, especially those based on wide bandgap materials like SiC.
With the significant expansion of its Kulim fab, Infineon will build the world’s largest 200-millimeter SiC power fab and further strengthen its market-leading role as a high-quality, high-volume supplier to the automotive industry. In line with Infineon’s multi-site strategy, the Kulim facility will complement Infineon’s current manufacturing capacity in Villach, Austria, and further capacity expansions in Dresden, Germany.
Original – Infineon Technologies
