It seems that ZF Friedrichshafen is reportedly departing from the chip manufacturing undertaking
It's being reported that struggling automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen is allegedly no longer planning to join in on the proposed chip factory of American firm Wolfspeed in Saarland. As per a Handelsblatt report, citing government and industry insiders, ZF has decided to renege on the 170 million euros it agreed to contribute at the start of the previous year.
This development puts the already delayed project to construct a chip plant, backed by 2.75 billion euros in state funding, in jeopardy.
Wolfspeed reported losses and announced in the summer that they would push back the commencement of construction. The plant, originally slated to begin producing silicon carbide semiconductors for the automotive sector in 2027, was unveiled in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Economics Robert Habeck in February 2023. ZF, Wolfspeed, and the Ministry of Economics could not be reached for immediate comment.
This unexpected decision by ZF further intensifies the challenges facing the chip plant project. The crisis in securing sufficient funding threatens to derail the plans for the factory.
