German chipmaker Infineon Technologies opened a new facility in Thailand on Thursday, as Southeast Asia's second-largest economy pushes to attract investment into the semiconductor industry amid rising regional competition. The new facility near Bangkok is a backend manufacturing site, where chips are processed into finished and tested semiconductors, with an initial investment of more than €100 million ($113.57 million), the company said at a briefing. Thailand's Board of Investment said in a statement that the project was valued at $1.4 billion, Reuters reported. The site will open with up to 30,000 sq m of cleanroom space - controlled environments required for semiconductor manufacturing - and can be expanded to 150,000 sq m, said Infineon's Chief Operations Officer Alexander Gorski. "It's a strategic long-term investment," Gorski said, pointing to Thailand's proximity to key markets such as China. "We are well prepared for strong future growth." The company has 13 manufacturing sites across the US, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, and can potentially double its revenue with its existing cleanroom space capacity, according to Gorski. The Thailand expansion is also part of Infineon's efforts to offer dual sourcing to its customers, Gorski said: "If something is going wrong in the factory in Malaysia, we can support our customers through the factory in Thailand." Thailand is aiming to draw $18 billion in semiconductor investments by 2030 by focusing on photonics, power electronics and sensors, as part of a longer-term strategy for the sector, said Board of Investment Secretary General Narit Therdsteerasukdi at the same briefing. Between 2023 and July 2026, Thailand has drawn 910 billion baht ($27.12 billion) of investments in the semiconductor and advanced electronics sector, according to a presentation by Narit. Besides financial incentives to attract new investments, Narit said that Thai authorities are looking to train nearly 85,000 skilled workers and over 1,700 researchers for the sector by 2030. Global semiconductor sales are forecast to hit $1 trillion this year, doubling to $2 trillion by 2035, driven by booming growth in data centers used to power artificial intelligence technologies.
