Inside Soitec, the French tech company powering the global semiconductor industry
51 minutes ago
From smartphones to data centres, the French company’s advanced silicon substrates underpin technologies used around the world. Valérie Gauriat went inside its production site in the French Alps.
In the Grésivaudan Valley near Grenoble, sometimes dubbed the “Silicon Valley of the Alps”, millions of highly sophisticated silicon wafers are produced every year.
They come from Soitec, a French company little known to the general public, but a world leader in advanced substrates for the semiconductor industry.
Founded 33 years ago around an invention developed at French technological research institute CEA-Leti, Soitec started with just a dozen or so people. Today, it employs more than 2,000 and holds more than 4,700 active patents worldwide, with production facilities in France and Singapore.
“Our roots are French, our reach is global. Our job is to run faster than the competition,” says Christophe Maleville, Soitec’s Chief Technology Officer.
The company produces advanced substrates: a high-tech silicon wafer used as the base material to build the world's most powerful microchips. Its technology can be found in mobile phones, connected devices, cars and household appliances, as well as data centres.
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