Tech-based company, Bosch has been planning to boost its semiconductor business with the production of Silicon Carbide (SiC) chips.
The technology company plans to acquire assets of the U.S. chipmaker TSI Semiconductors, based in Roseville, California.
With a workforce of 250, the company is a foundry for application-specific integrated circuits or ASICs.
Currently, it mainly develops and produces large volumes of chips on 200-millimeter silicon wafers for applications in the mobility, telecommunications, energy, and life sciences industries.
Over the next years, Bosch intends to invest more than 1.5 billion USD in the Roseville site and convert the TSI Semiconductors manufacturing facilities to state-of-the-art processes.
Starting in 2026, the first chips will be produced on 200-millimeter wafers based on the innovative material silicon carbide (SiC).
In this way, Bosch is systematically reinforcing its semiconductor business and will have significantly extended its global portfolio of SiC chips by the end of 2030.
“With the acquisition of TSI Semiconductors, we are establishing manufacturing capacity for SiC chips in an important sales market while also increasing our semiconductor manufacturing, globally. The existing clean-room facilities and expert personnel in Roseville will allow us to manufacture SiC chips for electromobility on an even larger scale,” says Stefan Hartung, the chairman of the Bosch board of management.
“The location in Roseville has existed since 1984. Over nearly 40 years, the U.S. company has built up vast expertise in semiconductor production. We will now be integrating this expertise into the Bosch semiconductor manufacturing network,” says Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector.
“We are pleased to join a globally operating technology company with extensive semiconductor expertise. We are confident that our Roseville location will be a significant addition to Bosch’s SiC chipmaking operations,” says Oded Tal, CEO at TSI Semiconductors.
The new location in Roseville will reinforce Bosch’s international semiconductor manufacturing network. Starting in 2026, following a retooling phase, the first SiC chips will be produced on 200-millimeter wafers in a facility offering roughly 10,000 square meters of clean-room space. At an early stage, Bosch invested in the development and production of SiC chips.
“SiC chips are a key component for electrified mobility. By extending our semiconductor operations internationally, we are strengthening our local presence in an important electric vehicle market,” Heyn says.
Demand for chips in the automotive industry remains high. By 2025, Bosch expects to have an average of 25 of its chips integrated into every new vehicle. The market for SiC chips is also continuing to grow fast – by 30% a year on average.
In its wafer fabs in Reutlingen and Dresden, Bosch has invested more than 2.5 billion euros in total since 200-millimeter technology was introduced in 2010.
On top of this, billions of euros have been invested in developing microelectronics. Independently of the investment now planned in the United States, the company announced in the summer of last year that it will be investing a further 3 billion euros in its semiconductor business in Europe, both as part of its investment planning and with the aid of the EU’s “Important Project of Common European Interest on Microelectronics and Communication Technologies” program.
Click Here to get the latest EV news and exclusive updates from EV Mechanica on WhatsApp!