Élise Denjean 06h51, February 23, 2022
It is a market that France has lost for a long time and that it will try to recover.
Almost all the screens we use are produced in Asia.
But the French startup Aledia wants to change the situation thanks to the creation of a new production site.
A major project because it is a whole ecosystem to rebuild.
REPORT
They are everywhere: televisions, computers, smartphones or connected watches.
Screens have imposed themselves in our lives and have become essential to us.
On average, each French household has 5.5.
The economic market is therefore enormous - it represents 120 million dollars - but its production has completely deserted Europe for several decades.
Now, almost all screens are made in Asia.
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Faced with this observation, and while the screen will take more and more space in our uses, the company Aledia dreams of being a giant of the future Display Valley, located near Grenoble.
A huge site where it is building its factory of three buildings spread over more than 50,000 m².
This is where, within a year, it will start producing its first 3D micro-LEDs that will equip new generation screens.
A "breakthrough technology", affirms the management, which will make it possible to create screens of a whole new type and even to integrate them into glasses.
Screens that will consume less energy and provide better image quality.
The challenge of finding significant funds
Due to deindustrialization, it is impossible for the startup to use existing infrastructures.
We had to start from a blank page.
"For semiconductor technology, we really need clean rooms but as this semiconductor industry has fled Europe for a little over 20 years, there are no more", explains Nathalie Gambade, Aledia's chief financial officer.
It must therefore be rebuilt.
There will be 16,000 m² of clean room on its future production site.
The same goes for equipment.
"We have to import them, mainly from the United States, because there are no more equipment manufacturers in Europe."
And all of this comes at a very high cost.
For its factory, Aledia will have to spend more than 500 million euros.
A sum that the company must seek from foreign investors to compensate for the reluctance of European bankers and shareholders who are not or no longer used to such projects.
Especially since the production has still not started.
The plant will start producing within a year and will operate at full capacity from 2025. To do this, Aledia is benefiting from 5 million euros in state aid as part of the recovery plan.
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A "unique" opportunity for Europe to become a leader again
From infrastructure to financing, it is therefore a whole ecosystem to rebuild.
Another major challenge: training.
“You have trades that are very poor today,” explains Francis Taroni, industrial director of Aledia.
This is the case of maintenance for example.
"We need chemists, electronics engineers, opticians, but these are jobs that are very lacking today."
For its factory, the company will recruit 500 employees and generate three times as many indirect jobs.
She is therefore already thinking about creating her own training center.
“We cannot reindustrialize without training,” concludes the industrial director.
For it must go fast.
The tech giants are already on the spot and have colossal resources.
This would not be being overtaken.
"This is a unique opportunity for Europe to become a leader in technology and to supply large companies at the forefront," said Nathalie Gambade.
According to the financial director of Aledia, the project led by the company might even encourage a large semiconductor, such as Intel, to recreate jobs in the region.
"And then we're really in a virtuous circle."