“State of the art fabs are too big to be financed by one country only,” Heinz Kundert, President of SEMI, told the SEMICON Europa conference in Dresden today.
Europe has 320 fabs on 265 sites, said Kundert. In the last ten years, Europe has spent $55bn on semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials, said Kundert.
This year installed fab capacity in Europe will grow by 6% and SEMI expects it to grow 5% next year. 300mm capacity in Europe will grow 23% this year and 14% next.
During this year, $7.5bn has been spent in Europe on equipment and materials.
Of the 320 fabs in Europe, 79 make ICs, 84 make power devices, 48 make MEMs, 25 make RF devices, 17 make printed electronics and the rest make an assortment of products.
The top three countries have half the 320 fabs. Germany has 30% of the total; the UK and France have 20%; the fourth largest number of fabs is in Russia, and the fifth is in the Netherlands.
David Manners, Dresden