Wacker has decided on a new production location for 300mm silicon wafers - Freiberg, Germany. From August 2004, the initial capacity will be 60,000 wafers per month. This could ultimately increase to 150,000 per month. The EUR430mn investment could create more than 600 new jobs. President/CEO Dr Peter-Alexander Wacker says:

This will make Freiberg the third
pillar of our worldwide manufacturing network for the 300mm technology of
the future. We plan to send a certain portion of the wafer substrates from
Freiberg to Taiwan for epitaxial processing in close proximity to customers
there."
The main factors in favour of Freiberg were existing infrastructure,
availability of qualified specialists and cooperation and incentives from
Saxony. Germany's federal government and the state of Saxony are providing
regional development funding for the project. When fully completed, the
project will have received public financial support amounting to 20-30% of
the total. Payment of the subsidy is firmly tied to the progress of
expansion plans and associated employment growth. The German Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) has previously provided support for the
development of 300mm technology to the tune of EUR25.8mn.
Outside Japan, Wacker Siltronic is the only company capable of manufacturing
300mm wafers on an industrial scale. With a market share of about 20%,
Wacker sees itself as one of the three leading suppliers of large wafers.