New jobs, $2M microchip lab coming to Lexington boosting advanced manufacturing
A European semiconductor designer and builder is adding another lab and new jobs to its Lexington office, which could advance the state’s advanced manufacturing industry.
Infineon Technologies, which makes microchips that allow computers and other devices to collect data, process it and communicate across circuits, will invest more than $2 million in Kentucky and create 20 new jobs in the next decade.
The investment is going toward an electrical characterization laboratory, according to an application the company submitted to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority in order to receive state incentives.
In that kind of lab, the voltage, current and resistance of materials and electronic components used in semiconductors are tested to understand their performance and reliability.
The lab would be added to the company’s Lexington facility, which already has a specialized research and development semiconductor and microchip hub.
It would enhance the company’s research and development capabilities, especially to support automotive and industrial electronics.
Semiconductors and microchips are in modern vehicles’ power sensors, cameras, digital displays and advanced driver assistance features like collision avoidance. Electric vehicle powertrains rely heavily on semiconductors.
Aside from EVs, Infineon’s microchips improve energy efficiency in solar panels and wind turbines and control the flow of electricity in everyday devices to reduce power consumption.
The company’s technology also powers data centers. Next month, Infineon Technologies will present its products at a global industry conference including its battery storage systems and others.
At the May 28 meeting of the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, a member of the cabinet said the expansion “would further position Kentucky as important contributors in the growing semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries, while also supplying high-value research and development activity within the Commonwealth.”
Loan investment for the project is approximately $2.1 million.
Over the next decade, 20 new jobs paying $35.25 an hour including benefits will be created, the company said.
Approximately $1.1 million of the investment is eligible under the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, a state incentive that provides a refund of sales and use tax paid for research and development equipment, building and construction materials and other items.
The finance authority approved a recovery amount of $63,000 for research and development equipment in addition to a negotiated amount of $370,000 from the Kentucky Business Investment Program, an incentive that provides qualifying companies with income tax credits to offset costs so long as they create promised jobs with promised wages.
Infineon is headquartered in Munich and spun out of Siemens’ semiconductor arm in 1999. In 2000, it made its initial public offering, a process by which a private company shifts to public ownership. It primarily trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker IFX.
Since the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the company has acquired several of its semiconductor manufacturing peers in an effort to expand its automotive portfolio.
Because its Lexington office is a focal point for the company’s present research and development, its proximity to the University of Kentucky allows it to recruit and retain talent in the highly specialized field.
Kentucky’s advanced manufacturing sector employs more than 30,000 people in the Central Kentucky area in robotics, automation and engineering across the automotive, aerospace and biotechnology fields.
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