As a supplier of semiconductors for the automotive industry, Bosch wants to significantly expand its position in the highly competitive field of booming SiC (silicon carbide) chips. The Californian semiconductor manufacturer TSI Semiconductors in Roseville is on the acquisition list.
TSI is a medium-sized company with around 250 associates and mainly produces ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) on 200 mm wafers. Bosch has reserved 1.5 billion dollars for the upcoming investment. Subject to official approval, SiC chips are to be manufactured there from 2026. The local funding in the 'US Chips and Science Act' and its expected subsidy play a role in these considerations.
With the acquisition of TSI Semiconductors, Bosch intends to further expand its sales of automotive semiconductors and strengthen its competitive position against Onsemi and ZF Friedrichshafen. The US manufacturer Wolfspeed (which is expanding into Germany and cooperating with FZ here) is also doing good business. "With the acquisition of TSI Semiconductors, we are establishing a production capacity for SiC chips in an important market," says Stefan Hartung, Bosch CEO. "The Roseville site has existed since 1984, and since then TSI has built up extensive expertise in semiconductor manufacturing."
From 2026, after a retooling phase, Bosch plans to manufacture SiC chips on 200 mm wafers in Roseville in a cleanroom measuring around 1,000 m². Since 2021, Bosch has been producing SiCs in highly complex proprietary processes in a mass production facility in Reutlingen near Stuttgart. From the end of 2025, the cleanroom area in Reutlingen is to be increased from 3,500 to more than 4,400 m². In addition to its commitment in Roseville, California, Bosch also intends to ramp up its semiconductor investments in Europe and plans to make a further €3 billion available for this purpose. With support from the EU's IPCEI program ('Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies').
