Nexperia channels €184M into Hamburg fab

Nexperia has announced a 184-million-euro investment in its Hamburg site to expand manufacturing capacity for silicon diodes and transistors, and to develop and manufacture silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) wide-bandgap semiconductors (WBG). “Our Hamburg fab will cover the complete range of WBG semiconductors while still being the largest factory for small-signal diodes and transistors,” says Achim Kempe, COO and managing director at Nexperia Germany.

The first production lines for high-voltage GaN D-Mode transistors and SiC diodes started in June 2024. The next milestone will be modern and cost-efficient 200mm production lines for SiC MOSFETs and low-voltage GaN HEMTs. These will be established over the next two years. At the same time, Nexperia is investing to further automate manufacturing at the Hamburg site and expand silicon production capacity by converting to 200mm wafer sizes.

In addition to expanding the cleanroom areas, Nexperia will build new R&D laboratories focused on WBG design. SiC and GaN aren’t new territory, however. GaN FETs have been part of the firm’s portfolio since 2019 while in 2023, SiC diodes and SiC MOSFETs were introduced, the latter in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric.