A hi-tech and green factory for chips, fundamental for the digital transition. Green light from the European Union for StMicroelectronics’ multi-year 5 billion investment program, which includes 2 billion support from the Italian State, within the framework of the Chips Act.
The new 200mm silicon carbide manufacturing plant for power devices and modules, as well as for STM testing and packaging activities, will be built in Catania. Together with the SiC substrate manufacturing plant being set up on the same site, these facilities will form the company’s Silicon Carbide Campus. An investment, that of Catania, which, as explained by the vice president of the EU Commission, Margrethe Vestager, announcing the green light for aid from Europe, «supports a single integrated plant for silicon carbide chips» and will help the «digital transition and green” of the EU, contributing to “creating highly qualified jobs, while limiting possible distortions of competition”.
THE JOBS
The plant, explains the Competition Commissioner, will contribute “to guaranteeing European access to a reliable source of energy-efficient chips used in electric vehicles and charging stations”. «With these investments – said Vestager after a visit to the site together with Minister Adolfo Urso – we can also show that we can increase the security of supply and minimize the risks for the industry in Europe». For Minister Urso, yesterday «is a historic day for Sicily, for Italy and for Europe: that of Mimit is the second largest investment approved to date by the EU Commission within the Chips Act: it reaffirms the role of a hub for the development of microelectronics in Italy and the Etna Valley”. Not only that, adds Urso: «by the end of the year Italy will reach 10 billion in investments in the microelectronics sector». Mimit underlines that the Italian strategy for microelectronics has the objective of bringing large production investments into the country (4 billion have already been invested on this point), strengthening advanced industrial research and building relationships with other countries.
So far this has served to launch STM’s investments in Catania for 5 billion, which will create 2 thousand jobs, and that of Silicon Box, for 3.2 billion and 1,600 employees. The SiC campus, then, will be the first complex of plants in Europe that covers all phases of production, from silicon carbide powder to the products and power modules used for electric cars, fast charging, photovoltaic panels, large servers of cloud infrastructure and data centers. Production is expected to start in 2026.
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When fully operational, in 2033, the site will process 15 thousand SiC slices per week. Silicon carbide represents a technological breakthrough: it is composed of silicon and carbon and offers numerous advantages compared to traditional silicon. It has the advantage of offering greater power and reducing dispersion, increasing the quality and life of the device, improving energy efficiency.
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