The European Commission has approved €319 million in Austrian state aid for Infineon Technologies Austria AG to upgrade its semiconductor plant in Villach, Carinthia.
Austria notified the Commission of its plan to back Infineon’s “Empowering Fab” project, which is intended to establish high-volume manufacturing of power gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor devices, the Commission informed in a statement on Tuesday.
GaN is a material used to make certain chips and can be used in applications including artificial intelligence, energy infrastructure, electric mobility and robotics.
The Commission said the project builds on existing 200 mm power GaN manufacturing in Villach and would transition production to larger 300 mm wafers — thin discs used to make semiconductors.
It described the facility as “first-of-a-kind” in the EU because power GaN devices are currently manufactured on wafers of up to 200 mm, and no comparable 300 mm power GaN manufacturing capacity is available in the bloc.
Conditions attached to the funding
The aid will be provided as a direct grant, the Commission said.
Under the measure, Infineon agreed to expand collaboration with start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and research institutions, including by providing access to hardware and software kits and its laboratory facilities.
Infineon also agreed to develop education and skills training activities and to share with Austria potential project-related profits beyond current expectations.
A non-confidential version of the decision will be published under case number SA.113427 in the Commission’s state aid register once any confidentiality issues have been resolved.
