4 ms·

Any historic reason for the cluster to be in Dresden? I would have expected the most sophisticated areas to be in Western Germany area. Maybe govt encouraged de

by zz865 5y ago

Any historic reason for the cluster to be in Dresden? I would have expected the most sophisticated areas to be in Western Germany area. Maybe govt encouraged development there?

idownvoted 5y ago
There is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Robotron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Robotron https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotron_300 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotron_300 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Saxony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Saxony
flohofwoe 5y ago
Dresden was the seat of Robotron since the late 60s, which was the biggest (and pretty much only) East German electronics company. In some ways, East Germany had built a more advanced (or let's just say "bigger") semiconductor industry than Western Germany during the 70's and 80's, because Western Germany could simply buy its chips cheap from all over the world, while the Eastern Bloc was under emgargo and had to produce their own. East Germany focused on Zilog clones, while the Soviets focused on Intel clones. After the reunification most of this industry collapsed because it wasn't internationally competitive, some niches and especially the "engineering tradition" and universities survived though. I think this planted the seed for Dresden to become a semiconductor hub again since the early 2000's, of course supported by the Saxon government (AMD building a fab there at the end of the 90's was a big deal for Saxony).
fxtentacle 5y ago
When I visited GlobalFoundries, they said the location was chosen for its low rate of earth movements, the stable rocks underground that things can be anchored to, and the stable wind conditions. If you're fabricating things at 30nm, a strong gust of wind against the side wall of your factory might be enough to waste some wafers. If I remember correctly, they have a rubber shell to protect against it...

by zz865 5y ago

Any historic reason for the cluster to be in Dresden? I would have expected the most sophisticated areas to be in Western Germany area. Maybe govt encouraged development there?

idownvoted 5y ago

There is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Robotron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEB_Robotron https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotron_300 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotron_300 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Saxony https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Saxony

flohofwoe 5y ago

Dresden was the seat of Robotron since the late 60s, which was the biggest (and pretty much only) East German electronics company. In some ways, East Germany had built a more advanced (or let's just say "bigger") semiconductor industry than Western Germany during the 70's and 80's, because Western Germany could simply buy its chips cheap from all over the world, while the Eastern Bloc was under emgargo and had to produce their own. East Germany focused on Zilog clones, while the Soviets focused on Intel clones. After the reunification most of this industry collapsed because it wasn't internationally competitive, some niches and especially the "engineering tradition" and universities survived though. I think this planted the seed for Dresden to become a semiconductor hub again since the early 2000's, of course supported by the Saxon government (AMD building a fab there at the end of the 90's was a big deal for Saxony).

fxtentacle 5y ago

When I visited GlobalFoundries, they said the location was chosen for its low rate of earth movements, the stable rocks underground that things can be anchored to, and the stable wind conditions. If you're fabricating things at 30nm, a strong gust of wind against the side wall of your factory might be enough to waste some wafers. If I remember correctly, they have a rubber shell to protect against it...