Decarbonization and digitalization efforts to help counter global warming and reduce carbon footprint are not just fashionable slogans but courageous and concrete choices by semiconductor companies committed to developing innovative and efficient solutions. This is exactly what Infineon Technologies is achieving by launching Kulim 3 (KLM3), set to be the world’s largest 200-mm (8-inch) fab devoted to the production of silicon carbide power devices.
On Aug. 8, 2024, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and chief minister of the state of Kedah (also known as the Menteri Besar) Dato’ Muhammad Sanusi Mohd Nor, together with Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck, held the official opening ceremony in Kulim to launch the first phase of the project, which will focus on the manufacturing of SiC power semiconductors and will include gallium nitride (GaN) epitaxy with an investment worth €2 billion.
Before invitees addressed their speeches, on-site employees entertained the audience with a show of local folklore and contemporary culture. Malaysian Mek Mulung features stories drawn from local legends presented through dialogue, song and dance. Tutting is a dance style that creates geometric positions at right angles reminiscent of the arms and hands stretched out by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Quite evocative was the dancers’ rhythmic intonation “JOM RAMP WBG” with JOM being an interjection meaning “let’s” in Malay, the official language. It demonstrated a clear example of how investments in high-tech can coexist with an established cultural context by still providing social and economic development to local communities. In a video, attendees were taken on a virtual tour to explore the main cleanroom processes: ion implantation, furnaces, plasma etching, lithography and wet cleaning. Including all fabs, the cleanroom surface is larger than 100,000 cubic meters and is classified as Class 10 or ISO4, allowing no more than 10 particles with a diameter of 0.5 microns per cubic foot.
Kulim HiTech Park
Infineon’s Kulim plant is located in Kulim HiTech Park, the first high-tech park in the country. With a total area of 22.5 km2 (~5,560 acres) and a workforce of 34,000 people working for 47 companies, it has six zones dedicated to industrial, R&D, residential, urban, amenities and institutional—a fertile ground for investors.
Kulim is a district and town in the state of Kedah, situated just 27 km east of Penang’s capital city, George Town, also forming part of Greater Penang, Malaysia’s second-largest conurbation. Being located in Southeast Asia, this site boasts cost advantages, especially regarding personnel cost. The investment will create 900 highly qualified jobs already in the first phase and 4,000 total jobs upon completing the project. Infineon HR managers believe that although it’s challenging to fill open positions because of a global huntfor talent, the company has a good reputation owing to long-standing connections with local universities, so recruiting efforts will pay off in the end.
Infineon is deeply rooted in Malaysia. The company opened the first silicon fab in Kulim back in 2006, followed by Kulim 2 10 years after thanks to strong collaboration ties with the Malaysian government. Today, the company employs 16,000 workers in Malaysia.
In 2022, Infineon announced €7 billion investments in a wide-bandgap (WBG) fab (KLM3) whose first foundation stone was symbolically laid in July 2022. In the spring of 2024, all the KLM3 equipment was installed in preparation for the formal opening on Aug. 8. The planned expansion is supported by customer commitments covering about €5 billion of new design wins in automotive (among them are Ford, SAIC and Chery) and industrial applications, as well as about €1 billion in pre-payments. In the area of renewable energy, customers include SolarEdge and three leading Chinese photovoltaic and energy storage system companies. Moreover, Infineon and Schneider Electric agreed on a capacity reservation including pre-payments for power products based on silicon and SiC, with more details to come in future announcements. The pre-payments will contribute to Infineon’s cash flow in the next years and shall be fully reimbursed by the agreed sales volumes by 2030.
Infineon’s standing in power semiconductors
According to Ng Kok Tiong, Infineon Kulim’s SVP, managing director and KLM3 project owner, Infineon has already achieved substantial economies of scale in Kulim for silicon production, which will enable the company to go down the path to establish the most competitive SiC power fab. Whereas KLM3 operates on 100% green electricity and implements advanced energy management and sustainable practices, at the same time, it will consolidate Infineon’s role as the global leader in power semiconductors. According to Yole, Infineon, with a projected market share of more than 17%, holds a commanding lead in power semiconductors, ahead of onsemi and STMicroelectronics. Yole forecasts the power semiconductor market to be worth $59.6 billion in 2027. The company’s successful strategy is built on highvolume and inhouse manufacturing, coupling operational excellence with secure multisourcing procurements of raw materials, including SiC substrates.
Infineon’s WBG technologies
WBG technologies (or compound materials), such as SiC and GaN, are at the core of efficient energy management systems driving the transition toward a carbon-free economy. Owing to their reduced losses, as well as both conduction and switching, they allow for a systematic improvement of efficiency in electric vehicles, charging stations, energy storage and power-hungry data centers. The figure below gives a snapshot of how the different power technologies address applications in terms of power and operating frequency. Infineon claims that its SiC technology exhibits differentiating features, such as:
- Superior trench structure, translating into 30% more chips on a wafer and superior reliability attested by zero field returns
- Secure material supply chain enhanced by the kerf-free, laser-based Cold Split process. This technique outperforms traditional grinding by thinning wafers to less than 100 µ in minutes and with no material loss. Ultra-efficient use of substrate material can therefore reduce device production costs by as much as 30%, facilitating the ongoing conversion to 200-mm wafers.
- One of the industry’s widest product portfolios.
- Deep system know-how developed in serving 3,600 customers worldwide with SiC.
Facts about KLM3
The project, started during the pandemic, went through a tight schedule as it brought completely new technologies out of the laboratories directly into volume production. It took only 13 months from construction start to moving the first tool into the finished cleanroom. One key to its success was the knowhow and dedication of Infineon’s local experts, working in unison with their colleagues from the Villach plant in Austria. Engineers of the Austrian site started qualification of WBG technologies and processes in advance, aiming to scale mass production in KLM3. As a matter of fact, the two sister fabs make up a perfectly integrated and synchronized “One Virtual Fab,” with Villach acting as WBG innovation hub and global competence center and Kulim required to fulfill future market demands. To ensure that nothing is left to chance, the Kulim site is designed to exploit rain to conserve water. In fact, the total water storage capacity is about 18.5 million liters, equivalent to eight Olympic swimming pools, of which 3 million liters are obtained from rainwater for cooling towers and other purposes.
KLM3 is built by adhering to the strictest environmental policies for energy efficiency and sustainable manufacturing to help reach Infineon’s goal of climate neutrality by 2030. All investments in sustainable technology therefore go hand in hand with the virtuous climate impact of Infineon’s efficient semiconductor technologies, used in solar and wind power plants, EVs and AI data centers. Another example is the use of zero-ozone-depletion-potential and ultra-low-global-warming-potential R-1234ze HFO refrigerant substances in all the centrifugal chillers, also used to cool production equipment, such as lithography machines, scanning microscopes and ultra-precision instrumentation.
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