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The
investment, for which Bosch will seek European Union funding
under the Important Projects of Common European Interests (IPCEI)
framework, should boost Europe's production capacity for chips
in a global market still dominated by U.S. and Asian players.
"Europe can and must capitalize on its own strengths in the
semiconductor industry," said Chief Executive Stefan Hartung.
"The goal must be to produce chips for the specific needs of
European industry."
Bosch last year opened a 1 billion euro chip factory in Dresden,
a record investment as it sought to stake its claim in the
growing market for chips to equip self-driving and electric cars
amid a global shortage.
A total of 170 million euros will go into the new development
centres in Reutlingen and Dresden, with 250 million euros to be
spent on expanding the existing Dresden site.
How the remaining funds will be spent is yet to be decided,
Hartung said.
The CEO expects bottlenecks in chip supply, from strained
shipping networks to low production capacity, to continue for
several more months, even as inflation eases pressure on some
parts of the sector by reducing demand for expensive consumer
goods.
Bosch's chips need to be shipped from Germany to Malaysia and
back again in the production process, meaning any disturbance to
shipping could add weeks to delivery times, Hartung said.
"There are areas where certainly demand will fall such that you
can order substantive sums at any time.... there are however
also areas where not as much capacity was added and demand is
still very high," he said.
($1 = 0.9964 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Miranda Murray,
Rachel More and Jan Harvey)
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