Bosch to Spin Off Semiconductor Business Into New Division in 2028

Bosch will transfer its semiconductor operations into a standalone division named Semiconductors on January 1, 2028, the German supplier said on Tuesday. The company targets roughly 5 billion euros in semiconductor sales by 2030.

The reorganisation forms part of a broader evolution of Bosch's corporate structure under Bosch Mobility, announced in October 2026. The new Semiconductors division will remain assigned to the Mobility business sector rather than operating as an independent company.

How much has Bosch invested in fabs?

Bosch has invested approximately 3 billion euros in its wafer fabs in Dresden and Reutlingen. In Roseville, California, the company is spending about $2 billion to equip a plant for manufacturing specialised silicon carbide chips. Bosch also plans to expand its test centre in Penang, Malaysia, by the middle of the next decade to strengthen global resilience across its manufacturing footprint.

The company holds a 10 percent stake in the European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (ESMC) GmbH, a joint venture in Dresden. Bosch said it will increasingly open its manufacturing capacity to external partners and systematically expand its foundry business, a shift that would turn internal fab investment into a commercial revenue line.

What does the spin-off change?

Markus Heyn, deputy chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH and chairman of the Mobility business sector, said semiconductors are a key success factor for all of Bosch's divisions. The new unit will report inside Mobility but serve the whole group.

Erik Rein, who is responsible for Bosch's semiconductor business, said the new structure will let the company better tailor services to customer needs in automotive, consumer electronics and new markets.

"Our unique strengths in the semiconductor business are our market and technology leadership in MEMS sensors, as well as the way we've integrated semiconductors into our systems business," Rein said. "In particular, that includes silicon carbide chips and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)."

Bosch ranks among the leading providers of MEMS sensors and integrated semiconductors, including silicon carbide power chips and ASICs. The company already deploys its own silicon in pioneering applications such as robotics.

Why does the foundry push matter?

Opening fab capacity to external customers would move Bosch closer to the merchant foundry model that TSMC pioneered, though at a far smaller scale and focused on automotive-grade and sensor specialties rather than leading-edge logic. The Penang test centre expansion and the Roseville silicon carbide investment signal a dual-track strategy: capacity in Europe for resilience, capacity in Asia and the United States for proximity to customers.

The silicon carbide bet carries commercial weight. Demand for SiC power semiconductors is concentrated in electric vehicle inverters and charging infrastructure, where Bosch's automotive customer base gives it a captive market before it sells a single wafer externally. The Roseville plant gives Bosch US-based SiC capacity at a moment when automakers are regionalising supply chains.

The 2030 target of 5 billion euros in semiconductor sales sets a measurable benchmark for the new division. Whether the foundry expansion closes the gap between current investment levels and that goal will determine how investors and customers judge the spin-off when it takes effect at the start of 2028.