When it comes to German manufacturing, people first think of automobiles and machine tools. Indeed, the German automobile industry not only occupies a dominant position in Europe, it is also the largest producer of automobiles in Europe, but also famous brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche are also popular in the global market. In fact, Germany is not only car manufacturing. In the semiconductor industry, German companies also have very strong international competitiveness. In recent years, German chip companies have continued to exert themselves and have gained a lot in overseas markets, supporting half of the European semiconductor industry.
We know that the most important semiconductor raw materials are silicon wafers. In terms of the overall market size of semiconductor raw materials, silicon wafers account for 37% of the total market size, which is the core material for chip manufacturing. At present, this market is basically occupied by Asian companies, especially Shin-Etsu Chemical and Seco in Japan. In this field, the only European company that ranks among the top five in the world is Siltronics of Germany. Headquartered in Munich, Shichuang has the manufacturing capacity of 300mm ultra-pure silicon wafers. It is also one of the first companies to master 300mm silicon wafer production technology. At present, its main production capacity is distributed in Germany, the United States and Singapore.
Ultra-pure silicon wafers are essential for TSMC and Samsung’s 7nm, 5nm and other advanced processes. The more advanced the process, the higher the purity requirements for silicon wafers. At present, key production technologies are still in the hands of a few companies.
In addition to Siltronics, companies involved in the field of semiconductor materials also include German chemical giants BASF and Linde Gas. BASF is one of the world's largest chemical companies, and its functional materials division is responsible for providing semiconductor cleaning, corrosion and lithography products. In the field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Aixtron is a professional deposition equipment manufacturer. MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) equipment is used when manufacturing semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride.
In terms of semiconductor manufacturing, Germany also has world-class companies, such as X-fab, a professional foundry company. X-fab is headquartered in Erfurt, Germany. It is the world’s largest analog mixed-signal integrated circuit foundry company. When it comes to chip foundry, people first think of Taiwanese foundry giant TSMC. It is true that TSMC is absolutely in the field of general foundry. Leading, but in the field of analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, X-fab has more advantages. Analog mixed-signal pays more attention to professional knowledge, such as high-voltage, functionally integrated analog applications and other characteristics, and does not require too much structural size. X-fab's main factories are located in Germany, the United States and Malaysia.
Of course, Germany’s most well-known chip company is Infineon. This chip giant, born out of Siemens’ semiconductor division, just acquired Cypress this year, further consolidating its expertise in power devices, security ICs, automotive semiconductors and The position of NOR flash memory semiconductor field, the merged Infineon will rank among the top ten semiconductor companies in the world. In terms of industry, Infineon ranks first in the field of power devices and smart IC cards, second only to NXP in the field of automotive semiconductors. At present, Infineon`s factories are mainly concentrated in Austria, Germany, the United States and Malaysia.
In addition to Infineon, auto parts giant Bosch has also been working in the semiconductor field for many years. Bosch's MEMS sensors are mainly used in consumer electronics, automotive, Internet of Things and industrial electronics industries. In the field of smart phones, Bosch has developed products including gyroscopes, acceleration sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, etc., and it is said that about half of the world's The smartphone is equipped with Bosch sensors.
From silicon wafers and other semiconductor raw materials, equipment, foundry and downstream industrial applications, the German semiconductor industry covers the upper, middle and lower reaches of the semiconductor industry, demonstrating the strong strength of the German semiconductor industry. This is rare in European countries. As more and more chip giants are moving closer to the United States and Asia, the German semiconductor industry has supported half of Europe. If you add the Dutch lithography machine company Asmar, the United Kingdom Chip company ARM, etc., the European semiconductor industry is actually not weaker than Asian countries, and even leads in some core technologies and equipment.