NXP is part of a European semiconductor consortium in talks with TSMC to build a 28nm automotive fab in Saxony, according to a Bloomberg report. The planned venture between the Taiwanese foundry, the Dutch chipmaker, Robert Bosch and Infineon would have a budget of 7-10 billion euros, people familiar with the matter told the press agency. The German government would cover part of the investment – up to 40 percent is currently allowed by European rules. The collaboration model mirrors the one in Japan, where TSMC, Sony and a few other Japanese companies have entered into a joint venture for the construction of an 8.6-billion-dollar fab to manufacture logic ICs.
TSMC’s first European fab would be a major win for the European Commission, which drew up the recently approved EU Chips Act to double Europe’s chip manufacturing market share by 2030. Other projects seeking support are a joint FD-SOI facility by STMicroelectronics and Globalfoundries and a leading-edge fab by Intel, though the latter is currently on hold. Infineon broke ground this week for a power semiconductor fab in Dresden that also hosts production facilities for Globalfoundries and Bosch.