Infineon Produces 300 mm Silicon Carbide Wafers, Says They Yield 2.3 Times More Chips
Key Facts
Infineon said on November 9 that it had processed 300 mm silicon carbide wafers into functional power devices at its plant in Villach, Austria, and said it was the first company to achieve this in a full-scale semiconductor factory environment. The company framed the milestone as a move from the laboratory to a manufacturing environment, an important step in testing the potential to produce devices on larger wafers in an industrial facility. CEO Jochen Hanebeck said the company was making "significant progress in transferring 300 mm silicon carbide from the laboratory to a manufacturing environment." The announcement signals technical progress along the production path, but does not set a start date for large-scale commercial manufacturing. The company also announced a feasibility test of another wafer separation technology at its site in Dresden, Germany.
Infineon says a 300 mm wafer yields 2.3 times more chips per wafer than a 200 mm wafer. The figure reflects the company’s estimate of the number of chips that can fit on the larger wafer and explains one aspect of the production capacity case for moving to the new diameter. But it does not by itself establish that commercial production has begun, and the announcement gives no figure for the finished product’s cost or how much it might fall. The company linked the technology to a supply base it described as cost-effective and secure for multiple sectors, while the specific comparison in the announcement concerns the number of chips per wafer. This distinction puts the industrial figure in context without turning it into an announcement of pricing or financial savings that the company has not specified.
The company said the functional devices on the new silicon carbide wafers were made using its existing silicon manufacturing equipment. According to Infineon, this points to the use of existing equipment to achieve the processing, rather than an announcement of a new manufacturing facility dedicated to the step. The statement did not mention capital investment or a timeline for installing additional equipment related to 300 mm wafers. This point matters when assessing the nature of the milestone: the announcement concerns successful processing and the production of functional devices within an existing factory, not the launch of a large-scale production line. The company said it would plan the technology and the timing of expansion in close cooperation with customers and partners, while continuing to execute its current 200 mm wafer manufacturing roadmap.
Infineon cited automotive, renewable energy, industry and AI data centers as applications for silicon carbide. Examples it gave included traction inverters, vehicle chargers, energy storage and power supplies. These uses place the technology at the intersection of sectors that need power devices, from electric vehicles to computing and energy facilities. Against this backdrop, Infineon began delivering products based on 200 mm silicon carbide technology to customers in the first quarter of 2025 from its Villach plant. The 300 mm announcement marks progress from that stage in wafer diameter, while the company reaffirmed that it would continue its 200 mm production roadmap alongside planning for the larger format.
Infineon also announced that it had demonstrated the feasibility of Cold Split technology with 300 mm silicon carbide wafers at its Dresden site. The company said the technology separates wafers from the crystal with less material loss and less processing time than conventional wire sawing. The test adds a complementary manufacturing process to the processing milestone in Villach, as it concerns how wafers are separated before being used in manufacturing. The statement did not quantify the material or time savings, but described both as lower than with the conventional method. The company is scheduled to display the wafer to the public at the electronica trade fair in Munich from November 10 to 13, 2026.
The announcement comes ahead of Infineon’s fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results, scheduled for November 10 at 7:30 Central European Time. In its August results, the company reported revenue of 4.172 billion euros for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended on June 30, and said demand for power supply solutions for AI data centers remained very strong and was one of its key growth drivers. At the time, it forecast fourth-quarter revenue to rise by about 13% to around 4.7 billion euros, with a segment result margin of about 23%. The timing of the results places the wafer announcement in a week when attention is also focused on the company’s financial performance and previously announced outlook. Infineon said it would set plans for 300 mm technology and the timing of expansion in cooperation with customers and partners, without specifying when large-scale production would begin.