Nexperia announced on June 17 that it will invest US$700 million in the expansion of wafer fabs in Europe, packaging and testing plants in Asia, and global R&D bases during the next 12 to 15 months.

The investment will increase the manufacturing capacity of all factories and accelerate the research and development of gallium nitride (GaN) wide band gap semiconductors and power management ICs. In addition, Nexperia will hold recruitment activities to attract more 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,” says 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.”

This investment will increase the production capacity of the Hamburg fab in Germany by 20% by mid-2022. The fab currently produces more than 35,000 8-inch wafers per month (70 billion semiconductors per year). At the same time, Nexperia’s dedicated TrenchMOS power device plant in Manchester will boost capacity by 10 per cent by mid-2022 from the current 24,000 8-inch-equivalent wafers per month.

Through this investment, Nexperia's R&D activities will also increase significantly. All R&D bases will be expanded to establish new laboratories and other facilities, including Nexperia's headquarters in Nijmegen, and the location of the analog and logic business units.

“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.”