The center will have locations in Stuttgart and Reutlingen; it will embrace a total of seven professorships. With the move, Bosch builds on its activities in Reutlingen, where the company runs most of its R&D activities and where it is currently in the process of installing a wafer fab; ramp-up is scheduled for spring 2010. "We invest about 600 million euros here into the new semiconductor production line and a test center", said Volkmar Denner who oversees automotive electronics activities in Bosch's executive board. "Over the years to come we need qualified graduates to implement engineering solutions in power electronics, for instance in the segment of electromobility."

The company plans to establish the center in cooperation with the universities of Stuttgart and Reutlingen (both Germany). The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg has announced to partially fund the center with 12 million euros (about $17.8 million); the center will dispose of a budget of 25 million euros.

Besides automotive electronics as its largest business segment, Bosch increasingly is investing into photovoltaics. As recently as this week, the German giant (2008 sales: 45 billion euros) announced the acquisition of 68.7 percent of the shares for photovoltaics module vendor Aleo Solar AG where it already had held a minority position.

Related links and articles:

Bosch takes over two photovoltaics companies