Trumpf is betting on the growing demand for advanced plasma generators in semiconductor manufacturing. The German company is moving series production to Poland to cut costs, while concentrating R&D and new product development in Freiburg. Its EUV customer ASML will also benefit from the move. Trumpf is best known in the semiconductor industry as the supplier of powerful lasers for ASML’s EUV systems. These drive lasers require power electronics to generate the CO 2 plasma that produces the laser light. Similar technology forms the basis of plasma generators used to deposit and remove materials on wafers. This is a growth market for Trumpf. The total business for high-end power supplies now generates revenue of 458 million euros and is part of the Trumpf Electronics business unit. By comparison, the EUV division, which uses these power supplies, generated revenue of 791 million euros in the past financial year. The electronics division has growth potential, as the semiconductor industry needs advanced power supplies that can control etching and deposition processes with great precision. Trumpf is among the three largest suppliers in this sector. Growth requires investment in development, but there’s also pressure to reduce costs. Trumpf is addressing the latter by moving series production to Poland. Freiburg will focus on new product introduction (NPI). This is where new generators are developed, prototypes are built and the first small batches roll off the production line. Once volumes increase, production moves to Poland. As a result, 200 production jobs out of 600 at Trumpf Electronics in Germany will disappear. At the same time, the company is hiring more developers and engineers in Freiburg. ASML benefits from the new division of activities, as series production of power supplies for EUV is also moving to Poland. In Warsaw, the number of Trumpf Electronics employees is currently above 1,400, with continuing growth on the horizon. Roots A decade ago, Trumpf Electronics looked very different. At the time, the solar cell industry was its most important market. Power electronics from Zielonka, near Warsaw, were widely used in machines for manufacturing solar panels. “If you’d been here three or four years ago, we probably would have told you that we were a photovoltaic company,” says Rafał Bugyi, who heads Trumpf Electronics. “Most of what we supplied consisted of plasma generators for solar panel production, not for chips.” However, the solar cell industry built far more production capacity worldwide than the solar panel market could absorb. The rising demand from semicon therefore came at just the right time. Plasma etching and deposition are becoming increasingly important in the semiconductor industry, where manufacturers want to deposit, pattern and remove many more layers in three-dimensional chip structures. Particularly in 3D NAND memory, but also in advanced logic devices, the requirements for process control are increasing sharply. Trumpf aims to differentiate itself with more precise and faster-controllable power electronics. “If you’d been here three or four years ago, we probably would have told you that we were a photovoltaic company,” says Rafał Bugyi, who heads Trumpf Electronics. The roots of Trumpf Electronics lie in Freiburg, where electrical engineer Fritz Hüttinger founded an electrical equipment company in 1922. Initially, Hüttinger mainly developed and manufactured electromedical equipment. After World War II, the focus shifted to high- and medium-frequency generators. Applications for the semiconductor industry followed in the 1960s. Development of generators for Trumpf’s industrial lasers began in the 1980s. During that period, the machine manufacturer from Ditzingen developed its own CO 2 lasers for cutting sheet metal. In 1986, it began collaborating with Hüttinger, acquiring a majority stake in 1990. Trumpf later expanded its technology portfolio through two further takeovers. In 2007, it acquired A