German Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the Dresden opening by video, praising the investment enabling cutting-edge semiconductor production in Germany.
WHY THIS MATTERS · This matters because China just extended export controls to the equipment that makes gallium and germanium chips while the US locked down sub-14nm tool sales — a two-way choke that is already delaying compound-semiconductor parts for Western defense and power-electronics makers.
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"German Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed about 400 people from the local Silicon Saxony ecosystem by video, praising the investment that would enable competitive, cutting-edge semiconductor production in the country."
Extracted by pipeline v0.5 (claude-opus-4-8) from eetimes.com · approved by christopher@vucanews.com JUL 4.
Extracted JUL 4; approved JUL 4 at 0.60.
- MOFCOM extended export licensing to gallium and germanium processing equipment
- Infineon opened its €5 billion (~$5.7 billion) Dresden 'smart power fab' Module 4 on July 2, 2026, three months ahead of schedule.
- Infineon's Dresden Module 4 will become its largest facility for power semiconductors, outscaling comparable sites in Asia and the U.S.
- Infineon broke ground on the Dresden 300-mm fab in May 2023, reaching formal opening in July 2026.
- SK hynix shipped 12-layer HBM4E memory samples to major customers, processing up to 16 Gbps per pin and 20% more power efficient.