Bosch has opened a new semiconductor test centre in Penang, Malaysia, an investment of EUR65m.
It spans 18,000 square metres and has clean rooms, offices, and laboratories for quality assurance and manufacturing.
The will further expand the site by investing EUR285m by the middle of the next decade.
“We are creating additional capacity worldwide to meet the continued high demand for chips and sensors,” said Bosch chairman Stefan Hartung.
The centre ultimately will employ 400 people in what is the supplier’s largest location in south east Asia, now with 4,200 workers.
“The new centre brings our manufacturing network closer to the companies that serve the further value chain of semiconductor manufacturing as well as to customers in this important Asian market. That shortens delivery times and routes, and it improves our competitiveness,” added Markus Heyn, chairman of the mobility business sector.
Bosch also has semiconductor testing facilities in Reutlingen, Germany; Suzhou, China; and Hatvan, Hungary.
It will invest EUR3bn in Dresden and Reutlingen within three years. Part of this investment falls under the European IPCEI ME/CT funding programme.
It will also acquire part of TSI Semiconductors, based in Roseville, California, by the end of the year.
That acquisition would boost manufacturing of silicon carbide semiconductors with an investment of EUR1.4bn.
