[Chip People] "The solution is within 15 minutes"... The secret behind Germany's semiconductor super-gap

Robert Franke, CEO of the Saxony-Anhalt Investment and Marketing Corporation
"Thirty years of continuity created Europe's largest semiconductor cluster"
At the early stage of Silicon Saxony, attracted investment from Siemens, AMD, and others
Part

"A semiconductor cluster is not just about building factories. What matters is 'long-term continuity' that endures even during market downturns or political changes."

Robert Franke, CEO of the Saxony-Anhalt Economic Development Corporation, is being interviewed at the Novotel Ambassador Seoul Gangnam on the 10th. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

"'Silicon Saxony' is a single organism"

In an interview with The Asia Business Daily on the 11th, Robert Franke, head of the Saxony-Anhalt Economic Development Corporation in Germany, described the key to the success of "Silicon Saxony," regarded as Europe's largest semiconductor cluster, in these terms.

Silicon Saxony is a semiconductor cluster formed around Dresden in the German state of Saxony, and it accounts for such a large share of production that 1 out of every 3 semiconductor chips produced in Europe comes from this region. More than 3600 companies and research institutes are currently concentrated there, employing over 81,000 skilled workers. As global semiconductor companies such as Infineon, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries expand their production facilities, employment is expected to exceed 100,000 within the next five years.

Franke stressed that "Silicon Saxony was not created by a single policy decision," explaining that it is "the result of a coordinated industrial policy aimed at preserving and modernizing the tradition and expertise in electronics that have existed in this region since the 1950s, even after German reunification." From the very beginning, the goal was not merely to build a manufacturing base, but to create a sustainable technological foundation.

On this basis, Silicon Saxony was able to attract long-term investment from global semiconductor companies such as Siemens and AMD in the early stages of its development in the 1990s. Their investments immediately generated demand for advanced equipment, materials, and engineering, laying the groundwork for numerous small and medium-sized enterprises to settle nearby. Research institutes then投入 resources to develop next-generation technologies, and universities supplied talent tailored to on-site demand, thereby supporting industrial continuity.

Franke Robert, representative of the Saxony-Anhalt State Economic Development Corporation in Germany, posed ahead of an interview at the Novotel Ambassador Gangnam in Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

Expanding the ecosystem through cooperation among three federal states

Local governments followed up with investments in infrastructure, workforce, and research. These did not stop even during downturns in the semiconductor market. He particularly emphasized that "what matters is not only the scale of support, but also its predictability and continuity," adding, "When the regulatory framework is stable and public commitments continue regardless of political cycles, companies can make investment decisions on a timescale of decades with confidence."

It was also decisive that the cluster was expanded through cooperation with neighboring regions such as Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, rather than being confined to Saxony alone. This made it possible to be far more flexible not only in securing resources such as water, electricity, and wastewater treatment, which are essential to the semiconductor industry, but also in securing human resources.

Franke said, "The fact that companies, research institutes, universities, and local governments moved forward together with a long-term perspective made a big difference," stressing that "the competitiveness of this region does not simply lie in having many factories. It lies in the proximity whereby manufacturers, research institutes, and universities are physically so close that when a problem arises, the solution is within a '15-minute radius'."

He predicted that "there will be ups and downs in line with the semiconductor industry cycle, but the dependence of all industries on semiconductors will inevitably increase, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and more," and added, "Rather than worrying about a downturn, we will focus on preemptively securing production capacity to prepare for potential supply chain disruptions."

He also expressed expectations for cooperation with Korea. Franke said, "Korea has strengths in memory leadership and mass production, while Germany has expertise in system integration and automotive and industrial applications," adding, "By combining their respective strengths, the two countries can create a shared competitive edge in areas such as next-generation AI hardware and advanced packaging."