Global Semiconductor Shortage
"Those who want to go far, go TOGETHER."
Europe is committed to promoting semiconductor production and development with the launch of another IPCEI Microelectronics. Europe must continue to invest and work together, emphasizes Frank Bösenberg. These efforts are essential to keep up in the industry.
INTERVIEW WITH FRANK BÖSENBERG
1. Mr. Bösenberg, what does Europe and the decisions in Brussels mean for Silicon Saxony?
As a cluster, Silicon Saxony represents the largest semiconductor site in Europe, and we on the board see European cooperation as a priority. We, the semiconductor sites in Europe, have to act together in order to persevere worldwide.
Saxony is just as small a benchmark as Germany. We have to think and act on a European scale in order to be able to compete on an equal footing with other regions such as the USA, China or South Korea. These countries can spend much larger sums on semiconductor sites than Germany could on its own. For me, European cooperation is therefore a top priority.
2. Isn't the decision-making process and the formulation of opinions on the European stage in Brussels also laborious?
Yes, consensus is important, but it is not always easy to achieve. An African proverb states, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, then you must go with others." We do indeed want to go far, so in that respect it is precisely this cooperation that is important. Of course, we also very much welcome rapid decision-making at the European level.
The EU is on the right track. A high speed of implementation is and remains a main demand of ours. There are various statistics that put the share contributed by Europe to global production at between six and ten percent. According to the European Commission's target, this share is to be increased to twenty percent of global value added by 2030. The so-called Digital Compass sets correct and important goals, such as achieving greater technological sovereignty. This makes sense for many reasons - not least for ecological ones.
3. How do you assess the purchase of Silicon Saxony companies by investors based abroad?
A very prominent example from our region in the field of organic electronics is Novaled, which was sold to Samsung in 2014. From our point of view, this is still a success story because the founding team and TU Dresden had a return on investment and all components of the company remained in the region.
The production site has been preserved, expanded and developed. The jobs were not only preserved, but their number even increased. The know-how of this company continues to circulate in the region and has increased many times over, while the investments and innovations have paid off financially. This is a success story for an international cooperation. Another recent example is the purchase of wafer manufacturer Siltronic, which was acquired by Global Wafers, a Taiwan-based company.
We also have a couple of examples of investments from China. In one case, I know that the acquired company no longer exists today in its original form, but other companies have been preserved. In short, it is difficult to make a generally valid statement about such acquisitions; it always depends on the individual case. In times when all regions are striving for more sovereignty, there is certainly also a need for a clear strategy in this regard – ideally at the European level with corresponding national support.
4. How do you assess the relationship between the intra-European and the global market for semiconductors?
Let me give you a very recent example: Recently, the EU-US Summit took place and a declaration on this was published. In this document, an explicit declaration of intent for a EU-US Partnership based on the Semiconductor Supply Chain is set out. In this document, transatlantic cooperation in the field of semiconductors is explicitly mentioned. Globally, a very well connected and functioning and fair world trade is the optimum for the industry as well as for the customers.
However, there is a risk that a trading partner will pull out of a deal and start to behave unfairly. As a government or company, you do not want to be at the mercy of this. No single region in the world is independent when it comes to semiconductor production, or even close to independence. Neither the US, nor China, nor Europe. The regions are still dependent on each other. Reducing that dependence at least a little bit is in every region's strategic interest for many reasons. And this interest has been very clearly recognized by the US, China, and now Europe. Greater independence does not mean autarky. Nor does it mean that there is no longer any transfer of knowledge or information, or that trade comes to a standstill.
5. What exactly do you mean by independence?
Individual aspects or parts of the value chain now exist at only one location worldwide. Leading design systems come from the USA. EUV manufacturer ASML is based in the Netherlands, Europe. Whether a company wants to build a new leading-edge FAB in Taiwan, China, USA or Europe, it is impossible without a machine from the Netherlands. ASML manufactures at the highest level, there is no other comparable supplier. This raises highly political questions. For example, will the trade conflict between China and the USA block the delivery of ASML machines to China, or will a fair world trade be made possible?
No region of the world is yet independent of the others. The semiconductor industry has kept a close eye on these own dependencies since Fukushima and can thus quickly initiate appropriate crisis measures in the event of disruptions, such as the incident with the Ever Given in the Suez Canal. The chip shortage in the automotive industry also stems in part from a failure to fully understand the complete supply chain. This is a strategic task that each continent or region has to solve for itself. I see very strategic and also very long-term efforts to expand the industrial base especially in China. Europeans cannot and should not turn a blind eye to this, and accept this realization without demonizing it per se.
6. How do you assess the development in the field of printed electronics?
This is an area that has also attracted a lot of attention in Silicon Saxony. We have our own network for printed electronics – Organic Electronic Saxony – which is led by my esteemed colleague Dominik Gronarz. This topic has also already found its way into many areas among our members and is becoming increasingly important. This is an area of electronics that is not a vision of the future, but is already something of the present.
7. Where do you see the future areas of application for printed electronics?
I see the application mainly in the field of flexible electronics, i.e. where adaptation to the shape of the component is important or useful. A very mundane example: I have seen printable circuits on motorcycle handles because they can be easily adapted to the shape. Here in the region, the company Heliatek produces organic LED films. These are solar foils that adapt to an external shape. This innovation also already exists. The areas of application are so diverse that it is difficult to filter out individual areas of application. Wherever we are not talking about two dimensions or a rectangle, printed electronics are conceivable and, in my opinion, will become more and more common.
In printed electronics, electronic components are additively applied in layers to a carrier material. By injecting charge carriers, the printed components take on the properties of semiconductors, but in comparison require fewer production steps than the 1200 of standard semiconductor production. Photo: Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research IFAM