New chip plant key for German success in climate friendly technologies – Scholz

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has hailed chipmaker Infineon’s new semiconductor production plant as crucial for the country’s status as a green technology leader. The company’s chips will make German industry more resilient, Scholz said at the plant’s symbolic construction work launch ceremony in Dresden. Chips “provide our companies – from SMEs to large corporations – with exactly the components they need to be successful worldwide with environmentally friendly technologies.” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called Infineon’s investment “great news” in times of increasing geopolitical risks. “We need more such projects in Europe as demand for microchips will continue to rise rapidly,” she said.

As green technologies – including wind parks, photovoltaic systems, electric vehicles and heat pumps – require chips, their production is an important building block for covering 80 percent of gross electricity consumption in Germany with renewable energies by 2030 and for operating in a completely climate neutral manner by 2045, the government said in a press release. The European Commission and member states are mobilising 43 billion euros over the next few years under the European Chips Act to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the continent and ensure the independence, resilience and competitiveness of European companies in green technologies. Infineon will also receive EU funding, subject to the European Commission's state aid approval and the national funding procedure, the government said.