Infineon opens IGBT facility in China

The company was established to manage Infineon's sales and marketing, application R&D and central functions, and to house an IGBT stack power module manufacturing facility and a technical center for automotive solutions.

IGBTs are power semiconductors used to drive electric motors both in automotive applications and in trains. IGBTs are also used in the efficient conversion of variable frequency electrical output such as from a wind turbine or solar plant to a fixed frequency appropriate for the electricity supply grid.

"Global energy demand is constantly increasing, particularly in emerging markets like China, one of the most important and fastest growing strategic markets for Infineon," said Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, in a statement. "This new entity will enable us to raise our output to meet the extremely expanding demand especially for energy efficiency and electromobility solutions in China and brings us closer to our customers in this region."

China has plans to invest $700 billion in renewable energy projects between now and 2020. It also plans to expand its high-speed rail network from today's 7,500km to 13,000km by 2012. China's railway network will serve more than 90 percent of the population by 2020, with 16,000km of track, according to the government's blueprint. From 2020 onwards China expects to be producing one million hybrid and electric cars per year.

- Peter Clarke
EE Times