AIXTRON agrees on a new Penang factory

The manufacturing agreement

AIXTRON signed a Penang factory agreement with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority at SEMICON Southeast Asia on 5 May 2026. The company has obtained 8.5 acres at Bandar Cassia Technology Park for three-storey offices, cleanrooms and logistics areas. A modular design is intended to support systems for 100, 150 and 200 millimetre formats and allow staged expansion. Chief executive Felix Grawert cited customer service and operational flexibility; the agency expects skilled jobs and supplier opportunities.

The preceding investment decision

On 25 March 2026, AIXTRON announced its decision to establish a Malaysian production site, with approximately forty million euros planned for construction in 2026 and 2027. Assembly, testing, engineering support and local procurement would form the site's functions. Production would increase gradually, with first equipment shipments expected by the end of 2027. The company said its existing sites in Herzogenrath, Germany, and Cambridge, United Kingdom, would remain central development and production locations, complemented by the Malaysian facility. Its equipment serves power electronics, communications and optoelectronics.

The G10-GaN product platform

AIXTRON launched its G10-GaN cluster system on 6 September 2023 for gallium-nitride power and radio-frequency devices. Its announcement described:

Up to three process modules, with capacity for fifteen wafers of two hundred millimetres.
New reactor inlets intended to improve material uniformity.
On-board sensors, software and equipment-monitoring functions.

The company reported twice the productivity per cleanroom area compared with its preceding product. It also claimed a twenty-five per cent reduction in cost per wafer. These were comparisons published for the platform's launch, alongside its presentation at SEMICON Taiwan in Taipei.

The German research-facility programme

On 23 November 2023, AIXTRON announced the construction start of its innovation centre in Herzogenrath. The programme involved approximately one hundred million euros and one thousand square metres of cleanroom space, plus metrology areas. The design specified ISO 6 cleanrooms, expandable to ISO 4. Two supporting levels accommodated pump-filter cabinets and infrastructure systems. At that stage, the first equipment moves were expected in the second half of 2024 and official handover in early 2025. Chief executive Felix Grawert linked the research capacity to developing the next generation of technical solutions.

The financial position before the agreement

In its 30 April 2026 results announcement, AIXTRON reported first-quarter orders of 171.4 million euros, compared with 132.2 million euros a year earlier. Optoelectronics represented almost seventy per cent of incoming orders. Equipment backlog reached 359.1 million euros at the end of March, while quarterly revenue was 59.4 million euros. Research and development expenditure amounted to 24.8 million euros. The company also reported placing a 450-million-euro convertible bond in April, bearing no periodic interest and repayable in April 2031 unless converted earlier.