Closure of NXP’s Nijmegen fab appears on the horizon

NXP’s chip plant in Nijmegen will likely be closed by the end of the 2030s. At the firm’s Investor Day, held in November last year, chief of operations Andy Micallef unveiled a new manufacturing strategy, in which 200mm fabs will be consolidated into 300mm factories. He said that the 200mm facilities will be “exited completely,” adding that “it will take about ten years to make this migration.”

The 300mm facilities referenced by Micallef are ESMC in Dresden, in which NXP has a 10 percent stake, and VSMC in Singapore, in which NXP holds 40 percent equity. Both are currently under construction and scheduled to commence production in 2027. Assuming the clock starts ticking when wafers start shipping, NXP’s four wholly-owned fabs – one in Nijmegen, three in the US – can be expected to be shut down by 2037 at the latest.