Bosch starting R&D centre for power electronics

MUNICH, GERMANY: The Bosch group is starting an R&D centre for power electronics, located in Stuttgart and Reutlingen in Germany.

The centre – which aims at applications in electric cars and HEVs as well as renewable energies, especially photovoltaics – will have a total of 7 professorships.

It is in Reutlingen that Bosch runs most of its R&D activities. In addition, the company is, at present, in the process of setting up a wafer fab in Reutlingen, with the ramp-up scheduled for the spring 2010.

An EETimes report said Bosch is investing around 600 million euros in the new semiconductor production line and a test center at Reutlingen. The company will need, over the years, qualified graduates to implement engineering solutions in power electronics, for example, in the electromobility sector.

Bosch plans to set up the R&D centre for power electronics in cooperation with the University of Stuttgart and the University of Reutlingen. The state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in German will partially fund the centre with 12 million euros (around $17.8 million). The R&D centre for power electronics has a budget of 25 million euros.

Apart from automotive electronics, which is its biggest business segment, Bosch is investing in a big way in photovoltaics.

A few days ago, Bosch had announced that it bought 68.7 per cent of the shares of Aleo Solar AG, the vendor of photovoltaics module. Bosch already held a minority stake in Aleo Solar AG. The sales of Bosch were worth 45 billion euros in 2008.