In response to the semiconductor shortage, Bosch will invest more than 400 million euros in additional chip production in the coming year.

The money is to be invested in Dresden, Reutlingen and the Malaysian Penang, the supplier company said.

“The demand for semiconductors continues to grow rapidly.

In the current situation in particular, we are therefore consistently expanding the production of semiconductors, ”said the Chairman of the Management Board, Volkmar Denner.

Just four months ago, Bosch opened the continent's most modern chip factory in Dresden.

At over a billion euros, semiconductor manufacturing in Dresden is the most expensive single investment in the company's history.

"We are investing massively in semiconductor technology because, from our point of view, it is clearly a large area with great growth opportunities and will remain so in the future," Denner said in a Handelsblatt podcast.

Plant in Dresden should start up faster

According to the information, the majority of the investment will be used to expand the new semiconductor plant in Dresden more quickly.

Another 50 million go to Reutlingen, where 200 millimeter wafers are manufactured.

“Our goal is to ramp up the production of semiconductors in Dresden earlier than planned and at the same time to expand the clean room capacity in Reutlingen.

Every additional chip from our production helps in the current situation, ”says managing director Harald Kröger.

In Penang, the money will flow into a new semiconductor test center, which is scheduled to go into operation from 2023.

Many automakers and electronics manufacturers are currently struggling with not enough chips available on the market.

The current shortage of semiconductors arose, among other things, in view of the skyrocketing demand for notebooks and other computer technology in the corona pandemic.

Car manufacturers in particular suffer from this.

The bottlenecks on the semiconductor market are also making the economic recovery after the Corona crisis more difficult overall.

Denner assumed in June that the industry still had “difficult months” ahead of it, but that the situation would gradually return to normal in 2022.