After the chip law is before the chip law. Because no sooner have the politicians in Berlin, Brussels and elsewhere opened the cornucopia for semiconductor industry subsidies and distributed the first billions than new desires are aroused.
"A marathon for which you need staying power" Manfred HorstmannSochip factory boss Manfred Horstmann from Globalfoundries (GF) Dresden has now called for a second European chip law, a 'European Chips Act 2.0' (ECA 2.0). His aim is to ensure that more microelectronics expansion projects in Europe receive subsidies and that these subsidies also flow in the long term. Background: Globalfoundries Dresden has received Ipcei subsidies in the past, but has so far come away empty-handed with ECA 1. "Germany and Europe have set out to increase their own chip production and thereby strengthen industrial resilience in the Union," argued Horstmann during a 'parliamentary discussion' organized by the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IGBCE) together with semiconductor companies from 'Silicon Saxony'. This expansion program is "a marathon for which you need staying power", emphasized the Dresden GF boss. "That's why we need to start thinking about a European Chips Act 2.0 today. We will only be able to master the challenges of the century - decarbonization, digitalization, demographics and security - if we keep working on the topic of chips. And for this, we urgently need crisis-proof access to powerful, energy-efficient and, above all, trustworthy chips." Silicon Saxony had previously called for ECA subsidies to be made permanent. The Saxon industry association is thus largely in line with the state government in Saxony, IGBCE, Globalfoundries and other semiconductor players who have benefited little from ECA or Ipcei subsidies to date. "One of the strengths of the European semiconductor industry is its highly specialized and diversified semiconductor technologies for the automotive, medical and industrial sectors, which can also be produced in smaller quantities to meet demand," argues Dresden-based X-Fab CEO Michael Woittennek, for example. "These strengths need to be expanded and promoted with internationally competitive location conditions. That's why we must not stop now with the projects initiated as part of the European Chips Act, but must pave the way for a continuation that puts these efforts to expand the European semiconductor industry on a broader footing."
Suppliers also want to be included in the Chip Act
At the same time, companies from the semiconductor supply industry have also raised their hands and expressed their need for chip law subsidies. In a joint position paper, four European semiconductor suppliers have called for the EU to amend its chip law so that it also includes and supports local suppliers to the European semiconductor industry in future.
"If Europe is to successfully achieve the ambitious production and innovation targets of the EU Chip Act, we believe that decision-makers need to think beyond the fab and take a more holistic approach that includes the needs of critical supply chain elements for the chip fabs and contract manufacturers," reads the paper signed by Toppan Photomasks Dresden, Austria's 'IMS Nanofabrication', Sweden's 'Mycronic' and 'Vistec Jena'. "Tool manufacturers, optics and photomask manufacturers play a crucial role in financing European research, development and innovation as well as overall production." Only if the EU supports the entire ecosystem that makes semiconductor manufacturing possible, beyond the large chip factories, can the microelectronics value chains in Europe become crisis-proof. "Future versions of the chip law should take into account critical elements of the local supply chain - like the co-signatories of this white paper - to ensure digital sovereignty," demands Adrian Phillips, President of Toppan Photomasks Europe. However, the concrete demands from the supplier industry for an ECA 2.0 are not limited to subsidies: The EU and the German government urgently need to push for low energy prices, the position paper states. Politicians should also provide more support for local specialist training, liberalize visas for foreign specialists in the semiconductor industry, suspend the ban on so-called perpetuity chemicals (PFAS) for the semiconductor industry until a replacement is found, and grant a 25 percent tax rebate for new microelectronics investments.
Infineon invests an additional €300 million in 'old' Dresden chip plants
Raik Brettschneider is one of the two managing directors of Infineon Dresden,and Infineon in Saxony is currently demonstrating that the industry can sometimes do without billions in subsidies: The German semiconductor giant initially secured a billion-euro subsidy from the state for its new €5 billion chip plant 4 in Dresden. But at the same time, the company is also investing around €300 million in the modernization and capacity expansion of its existing Dresden fabs - even without ECA subsidies, as has now become known 'incidentally'. Raik Brettschneider, one of the two Managing Directors of Infineon Dresden, emphasized that the previous course of continuous investment has paid off over the years. "As a result, the site has remained very competitive in terms of production, process and product development." It is therefore worthwhile for the semiconductor group to continue investing in Saxony and to continue operating factories in a high-wage country like Germany that are around three decades old.
Infratec puts sensor factory extension in Dresden into operation
A few sizes smaller, Infratec Dresden has now also expanded its cleanroom factory at a cost of €20 million: The new production and development wing creates "space for innovation", announced the technology company, which specializes in thermal cameras, infrared sensor and measurement technology. This is the company's largest construction project to date and a "clear commitment to Dresden as a business location." The factory extension comprises around 2,700 m2 of new production and development space for thermographic cameras and pyroelectric detectors. A newly developed, fully automated calibration machine for the radiometric calibration of thermal imaging cameras is also available there. Part of the energy for the clean room is supplied by a 100 kW solar system on the new building.
The software industry is also growing
Saxony's neighboring microelectronics industries are also growing. Almost half of all employees in the 'Silicon Saxony' industry association now work in software companies, namely around 40,000 of the total 81,000 employees. This means that the software sector is growing far more dynamically than the entire high-tech industry in Saxony: while the total number of employees in the 'Silicon Saxony' companies increased by 6.4% within one year, the software industry achieved a growth rate of 25%. Growth was driven on the one hand by demand from the semiconductor industry itself, but also by artificial intelligence (AI) and the trend towards digital and, in particular, cloud and open-source solutions. "I would venture a prediction: software companies that don't use AI will no longer exist in two to five years' time," said Head of Technology Frank Schönefeld from Telekom MMS in Dresden recently. "We are all under pressure to act and should use the time."
More economical software could make entire giga power plants superfluous
However, it is not just the omnipresent megatrends such as AI and the cloud that are contributing to growth. Rather, engineers and other developers in Saxony's software industry are also turning their attention to new topics that have previously been under the radar but promise enormous potential. Because the power consumption of computer technology installed worldwide is growing rapidly due to energy-hungry artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency mining farms, growing cloud data centers and other digital trends, many programmers are now taking a closer look at their software: experts estimate that 10-15% of global carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption of data centers, PCs and smartphones can be saved if programming is more sustainable and economical in the future. A programming and thinking marathon - a so-called 'thinkathon' - in Dresden has now demonstrated how this can work in principle. For three days, twelve inventors from Germany, Estonia, England and India worked in spontaneously assembled, intercultural teams in Dresden's Impact Hub on the task of paving the way towards more 'sustainability in software development'. The challenge came from the Dresden-based programming company 'Zeiss Digital Innovation' (ZDI), which has been working on the energy and ecological 'footprint' of software for some time. "The energy consumption of Zeiss devices is an issue for many customers - the potential savings are in demand on the market," explains Dresden-based Zeissian Hendrik Lösch. On the other hand, the growing environmental protection reporting obligations that companies in the EU have to fulfill are also creating a need to document and ultimately reduce their own power consumption when using digital technologies. "This will be a major topic for the economy," says Danny Städter from the Smart Systems Hub Dresden, who helped organize the Thinkathon. "The idea is to sensitize people to think about resource consumption as early as the software development stage." The concept could also lead to synergy effects in the cluster: Economical computer technology - at that time, however, thought of from the circuit perspective - had already been the guiding theme for the Saxon cluster of excellence 'Cool Silicon' from 2008. The idea of using software to reduce energy consumption would certainly fit in well with this, so that Central German hardware and software providers could work together on this topic. And the concept behind it has been on the minds of Dresden researchers for years anyway: "20 years ago, I supervised a doctorate in which we tried to build an 'energy-efficient compiler'," recalls former 'Cool Silicon' spokesperson Prof. Gerhard Fettweis.
A wiggling ear as a source of energy
Arshnoor Singh from the HTW Dresden joined the 'Carbon Cutters' in the Dresden Thinkathon 'Sustainability in Software Development',but the focus on the topic of 'energy' is not only on attempts to reduce power consumption, but also on experiments on how new, decentralized energy sources can be developed for ubiquitous electronics and sensor technology. Dresden engineers are therefore currently working on a new generation of energy harvesters. These "scalable sustainable autonomous electrical energy generation systems" ('snaps') are intended to generate electricity from the movements of humans and animals or small machine vibrations, for example, and be easily expandable so that they can also supply larger amounts of energy if required. This is according to a press release from the Dresden University of Applied Sciences (HTWD), which is working together with Wälzlagertechnik Dresden on such 'Scalable Sustainable Self-Sufficient Power-Supply Systems' (S³PS). The aim is to create particularly sustainable and efficient energy harvesters "that convert the mechanical energy available on site, for example from the movements of people or animals or the vibration of machines, into electrical energy," explains Prof. Lutz Göhler from the HTWD Institute of Applied Electronics. Inside, a small electromagnetic generator converts the movements of the environment into electricity. The engineers want to couple this generator with special tuning electronics. "On the one hand, the electronics ensure that the generator is operated with the highest possible efficiency; on the other hand, it adapts the voltage provided by the generator to the requirements of the connected consumer." The researchers want to design their energy harvesters from the outset in such a way that they are easily scalable, i.e. expandable. This should enable autonomous power suppliers of a few centimetres, but also several decimetres in size. There is also a particular focus on the economical use of resources and on recycling principles: "Because they have a long service life and significantly fewer raw materials are required for their production than for conventional rechargeable batteries or batteries, the systems are not only self-sufficient, but also sustainable," emphasizes the HTWD team. "What's more, the raw materials can be recovered cheaply at the end of their service life."
Data loads are increasing: Mobile operators are also concerned about power consumption
In any case, energy consumption is becoming a key issue in more and more high-tech areas. This was also demonstrated during the 'Connect' mobile communications conference in Dresden: In view of the rapidly increasing data loads in the networks, engineers are increasingly concerned about power consumption and the resulting costs for network operators. One approach taken by the major telco groups to get to grips with the problem and kill a second bird with one stone is OpenRANs. These are networks that largely manage without special network technology from the Far East in the transmission stations, but instead simulate these special electronics on standard computer technology in data centers. Michael Martin from '1&1', among others, outlined the ideas behind this during 'Connect': "ORAN makes us less dependent on individual hardware providers, we can use the best antennas that are currently available and ourcarbon footprint also improves." This is because such open, hardware-independent architectures can also reduce the energy requirements and location problems of the heavily loaded cell phone networks: the approach of simulating special electronics on standard computing technology allows many functions of classic base stations to be shifted to the cloud. This reduces the size of radio stations, which in turn reduces space requirements and location requirements. And data centers can be supplied with power more efficiently than decentralized network technology. One of the pioneers of these ORAN concepts is the Barkhausen Institute in Dresden, which helps coordinate such research projects internationally.
Mining academy sets up study program for Mars mining
And another extraterrestrial delicacy from Saxony's research landscape: in order to prepare for colonization and resource mining on the moon, Mars and in space, the Bergakademie Freiberg is setting up a new Bachelor's degree course in 'Space Resources - Space Technologies'. The first students can now enrol on the course. Background: Mining on Earth is an old and mature technology that has been taught in Freiberg for centuries. However, it is now important to transfer the skills gained on Earth to other, more extreme environmental conditions, explained Professor Carsten Drebenstedt, who launched the new course. "In contrast to Earth, for example, we have less gravity on the moon, no atmosphere, extreme solar and cosmic radiation, constant bombardment with micrometeorites and extreme temperatures. Facing these environmental conditions requires a great deal of creativity, inventiveness, imagination and innovation."
The Bergakademie Freiberg wants to prepare the talents of tomorrow for life and mining on the moon and Mars.
Sources
Globalfoundries Dresden, X-Fab, IG BCE, Oiger.de, Bergakademie Freiberg, Connect, HTW Dresden, Zeiss Digital Innovation, Smart SystemsHub Dresden, Toppan Photomasks Dresden, Vitstec Jena, Silicon Saxony.
