{"slug": "inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch", "title": "Inside Infineon’s €5B Dresden Fab: Virtual Fab Cloning Fast-Tracked the Launch", "summary": "Infineon Technologies opened its €5 billion smart power fab in Dresden three months ahead of schedule, leveraging a 'one virtual fab' concept with digital twins and standardized global operations. The facility will produce power semiconductors for AI data centers and other key technologies, strengthening Europe's semiconductor manufacturing capacity.", "body_md": "At an official ceremony in Dresden, Germany, on Thursday (July 2), Infineon Technologies hailed the early launch—three months ahead of schedule—of its new “smart power fab”, Module 4. While much of the attention has focused on the price tag, the €5 billion (~$5.7 billion) investment, the more notable aspect is the speed of execution, from groundbreaking in May 2023 (see [Infineon Breaks Ground on 300-mm Fab in Dresden](https://www.eetimes.com/infineon-breaks-ground-on-300-mm-fab-in-dresden/)) to formal opening in July 2026.\n\nTo gain insight into the project strategy behind this achievement, EE Times sat down with Alexander Gorski, chief operations officer at Infineon Technologies, during the opening ceremony. In a video interview, he discussed the role of AI and the ‘one virtual fab’ concept across Infineon’s sites in Austria, Malaysia and Germany, in reaching this point, as well as the financial and capacity impact (when fully loaded Gorski said the fab will bring about €5 billion (~$5.7 billion) in additional revenue), and the products that will be manufactured here. The key is the global scale: The Dresden Module 4 fab will become the company’s largest facility for intelligent power semiconductor systems, outscaling comparable sites in Asia and the U.S.\n\n**You can watch the full video interview here:**\n\n**The audio-only link is also available below:**\n\n[View All](https://www.eetimes.com/category/sponsored-content/)\n\nThe opening of the fab is significant for Germany and Europe in many respects. A key industry focus right now is expanding semiconductor manufacturing capacity to meet current demand from AI data centers, and Infineon appears well-placed to support that build-out with additional capacity for power semiconductors and analog/mixed-signal devices.\n\nIn his official statement, Infineon Technologies’ CEO, Jochen Hanebeck, said, “We’re opening our new plant at just the right time. Our smart power fab is creating urgently needed capacities for the key technologies of the future, for everything from energy supply for AI data centers to software-defined vehicles and renewable energies. Infineon is thus giving an important impulse in making the global AI revolution possible and securing supply chains in critical industries. By taking this step, we are strengthening our global vanguard position as a leading manufacturer of power semiconductors and analog/mixed-signal technologies.”\n\nAt the opening ceremony, several German local and state dignitaries hailed the milestone as significant. 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.\n\nSpeaking in person at the event were German Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernization, Karsten Wildberger, and Saxony’s Minister-President, Michael Kretschmer. In his prepared statement, Kretschmer said, “Infineon’s new smart power fab makes this unique ecosystem stronger and shows that major industrial projects can be implemented securely and swiftly with the right basic prerequisites. This sends a strong signal about Dresden as an industrial location and about the future of microelectronics in Europe.”\n\n**One virtual fab enables speed, flexibility, and agility**\n\nIn the video interview with EE Times, Gorski emphasizes how Infineon was able to execute this massive infrastructure project in Dresden ahead of schedule by using real-time digital twins and a unified global operational model that mirrors processes simultaneously across European and Asian facilities. He called it the “one virtual fab” concept.\n\nGorski said Infineon has spent the last few years quietly standardizing its major global manufacturing hubs—specifically Villach (Austria), Kulim (Malaysia), and Dresden (Germany)—so they run on the same tools, the same processes, and the same software. This standardization, combined with digital twins of operations, enables tasks such as qualifying complex equipment to be completed much more quickly.\n\nThis “one virtual fab” blueprint also enables Infineon to ramp up capacity twice as fast as in the past—for example, by using experience gained from existing tools and equipment to optimize identical tools and equipment in a new fab.\n\nAnother point Gorski highlighted, and one reflected in the attendance at the opening ceremony, is Infineon’s hybrid manufacturing strategy. It is a point probably missed by many political leaders who talk about ‘bringing the manufacturing supply chain home’: One country or company cannot do everything that’s needed in the semiconductor supply chain, from process technologies to packaging. While Infineon has its global network of both front-end and back-end facilities, it also adopts a hybrid outsourcing strategy depending on the products.\n\nSo, for example, a higher proportion of its control and connectivity products is manufactured by outsourcing than its analog and sensing products or just power devices.\n\nGorski said the new 300-mm fab in Dresden will manufacture everything from standard power switches (e.g., MOSFETs) and complex analog/mixed-signal power management ICs to highly intricate SoCs for humanoid robotics.\n\n##### Read also:\n\n**Silicon Saxony Shows Promise, Limits of Europe’s Chips Ac****t**\n\nAt Silicon Saxony Days 2026, Frank Bösenberg said Dresden illustrates “what is possible” under Europe’s first Chips Act.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch", "canonical_source": "https://www.eetimes.com/inside-infineon-e5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch/", "published_at": "2026-07-04 10:40:05+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-04 11:02:15.746003+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-chips"], "entities": ["Infineon Technologies", "Dresden", "Alexander Gorski", "Jochen Hanebeck", "Friedrich Merz", "Karsten Wildberger", "Michael Kretschmer", "Silicon Saxony"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/inside-infineons-eur5b-dresden-fab-virtual-fab-cloning-fast-tracked-the-launch.jsonld"}}