Urban Wafer Fab

A few weeks ago, I had the honor to attend Nexperia’s 100th birthday celebration in downtown Hamburg. Historically, it all started with the Valvo electronic tubes and, since the facility is in our neighborhood, I took the car and trusted the GPS to get me there quickly and easily. What I didn't expect is that we would literally be going almost to the middle of the city!
Given the many products that are manufactured here, I wondered why the company would choose this location over an industrial area outside of the city, with direct access to the highway maybe? But, I was soon to learn later that day that this was due to the history of the site and this district in particular. Also, Hamburg in general, over the following decades has developed into the metropolis it is today. I also learned that the location is a great advantage for the company’s HR department as it attracts talent, especially the younger generation. Part of the program was a tour of the clean room and wafer production. This was a very interesting experience, and you could see how state-of-the-art technology and modern equipment has been integrated into these historic buildings. On the same day, Nexperia announced that it will be making a further investment in the site, specifically tailored to WBG technology. "Only the fence is the limit," as their COO explained in a press briefing.

The airport in Munich is not really an urban location for obvious reasons. But it is easy to reach by public transport, which is very important for our audience at the WBG event in Munich in December. Preparations have started and we have recently sent out the invitations. Bodo’s panel at PCIM was a good appetizer for what to expect, but of course we can go into much more detail during our conference. We will keep the successful format from last year, with an opening day and the conference on the second day. The program on www.bodoswbg.com will grow steadily over the next few months and tickets will go on sale in October, exclusively on this website. The response last year was overwhelming, and we look forward to this gathering of industry experts. If you work with SiC or GaN, you can't miss it, so mark your calendar!

Bodo’s magazine is delivered by postal service to all places in the world. It is the only magazine that spreads technical information on power electronics globally. We have EETech as a partner serving our clients in North America. If you speak the language, or just want to have a look, don’t miss our Chinese version at bodospowerchina.com. An archive of our magazine with every single issue is available for free on our website bodospower.com.

Green tip of the month:
Don’t let the traffic steal your time. The bigger the city, the greater the chaos. Every alternative to the car is worth trying out, which is what I discovered following my recent visit to Hamburg!

Kind regards,
Holger