Littelfuse takes over Elmos Dortmund fab

Littelfuse has completed the acquisition of the 200mm wafer fab located in Dortmund, Germany from Elmos Semiconductor.

The completion of the €93m fab acquisition at the Elmos headquarters in Dortmund boosts power semiconductor capacity across a broad base of industrial end markets including energy storage, automation, motor drives, renewables, power supplies, and charging infrastructure. Up to 225 staff work at the site.

As part of the deal, Elmos and Littelfuse signed a multi-year capacity sharing arrangement with an initial term lasting through 2029, with Elmos buying defined volumes of wafers produced at the fab. This long-term agreement supplements the existing supply arrangements with other foundry partners and ensures that Elmos has the necessary capacities to meet projected demand from its automotive customers. Elmos has also been expanding its test capacity at the site since the deal was announced in June 2023.

Elmos originally planned to sell the Dortmund fab to Silex Microsystems in Sweden, and had initial approval from the German authorities for the deal in 2022. However Silex is a subsidiary of Chinese chip maker CellWise, and the approvals were not granted. Despite the threat of legal action, Elmos eventually signed the deal with US chip maker Littelfuse, which owns fabs in the UK and US.  

“We are excited to welcome the talented and highly skilled Dortmund fab employees to the Littelfuse team,” said Dave Heinzmann, President & CEO of Littelfuse in Chicago. “This acquisition supports Littelfuse long-term growth strategy while expanding our power semiconductor technology offering and high-quality manufacturing capabilities.”

“The acquisition of the Dortmund fab expands our long-term organic growth opportunities for broad-based customer demand in high-growth power conversion applications across industrial end markets,” said Chad Marak, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Littelfuse Semiconductor Business. “The Dortmund fab complements our current footprint while growing our highly skilled technology team and enhancing our operational capabilities.”

The closing of the fab sale is a very important milestone for the future success of Elmos. As a fabless company, Elmos accesses state-of-the-art technologies from our renowned manufacturing partners. From now on we can even better focus on utilizing our strong growth potential with highly innovative automotive IC applications,” says Dr. Arne Schneider, CEO of Elmos Semiconductor SE.

“This is good news for the Elmos wafer fab team. We are delighted for Littelfuse to further develop the wafer fab in Dortmund for power semiconductors,” he said.