Innovative microelectronics “Made in Europe”

AT&S participates in the EU investment program to build a competitive microelectronics industry in Europe and contributes to climate protection with innovative interconnection technologies.

Whether in a laptop, smartphone or tablet, in video conferences or in driver assistance systems and electric drives: Microelectronic components have played a decisive and indispensable role in our daily lives. These developments will continue to increase with advancing digitalization. In order to position Europe more strongly in the highly dynamic global competition, to promote the European microelectronics industry and to reduce dependencies on international supply chains, the European Union has launched the “Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronic” (IPCEI).

Microelectronics is a key technology across many industries that will continue to gain in importance with advancing digitalization. The currently prevailing lack of microchips has once again made this very clear. From a geopolitical point of view in particular, it is becoming more and more important for Europe to expand its competencies in this future field in order not to lose touch with the world’s best.

From an Austrian point of view, the Styrian high-tech company AT&S makes an essential contribution to IPCEI. “We are focused on implementing the next generation of innovative electronic connection technologies in the areas of power electronics, high frequency and computing. The next generation of technology is already being implemented and the existing generation, which is today based in Asia, is being skipped over,” explains Hannes Voraberger, Director R&D at AT&S. The use of the latest production technologies and processes enables innovative solutions that, for example, make an important contribution to active climate protection; for example in the use of regenerative energy sources, efficient and low-emission mobility, in industrial plants or in increasing energy efficiency in the generation and transmission of electricity.

“The decision of the European Commission is an important step for the microelectronics industry in Austria and throughout Europe”, says AT&S CEO Andreas Gerstenmayer. “From an AT&S point of view, we will bring three of our main competencies – high-end printed circuit board solutions, innovative substrate technologies and know-how in component integration – into the project. This innovative combination makes it possible to provide electronic interconnection solutions with ever smaller sizes, with fewer energy losses and a longer service life, and thus to meet future market requirements.”