Infineon fab doubles down on Malaysia SiC chip production

Germany’s Infineon Technologies has started production at the first phase of its new fab in Kulim, Malaysia, which it expects to become the largest and most competitive 200-millimeter silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor production facility in the world.

Known as Kulim 3, the new fab follows the opening of Kulim 1 in 2006 and Kulim 2 in 2016, reinforcing Infineon’s long-term commitment to semiconductor manufacturing in Malaysia. SiC power devices are key to the production of more efficient electric vehicles.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Chief Minister of the northern state of Kedah, where the fab is located, joined Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck for the official August 8 launch ceremony.

Hanebeck said “New generations of power semiconductors based on innovative technology such as silicon carbide are an absolute prerequisite to achieving decarbonization and climate protection. Our technology increases the energy efficiency of ubiquitous applications such as electric cars, solar and wind power systems and AI data centers.”

He added: “The investment in Kulim is highly attractive to our customers, who are backing it with their prepayments.”

Infineon has reported approximately five billion euros (US$5.46 billion) worth of design wins in the automotive, industrial and renewable energy sectors, and prepayments from new and existing customers amounting to about one billion euros for Kulim 3’s output.

That will go some way toward covering the company’s investment in Kulim 3, which is expected to reach about two billion euros for Phase 1 and five billion euros for Phase 2.

Phase 1 will concentrate on SiC power semiconductors but will use some of its capacity for gallium nitride (GaN) epitaxy (growing a GaN layer on a