Will Villach become Europe's memory capital?
Will Villach become Europe's memory capital?
On 15 November 1984, Federal Chancellor Dr. Fred Sinowatz officially opened the Villach II production facility in the newly built Hall 15. It is Europe's most modern semiconductor factory and a message of challenge from the Siemens Group to its competitors in Asia and the USA.
In the mid-1980s, the technological lead of Japanese and American semiconductor manufacturers was considered unassailable for Europe. With the start of production of 256k memories in Villach, the gap to Japanese competitors shrank to about one year, and U.S. manufacturers were only a few months ahead.
For Siemens, it was supposed to be the starting signal for the great race to catch up and to make Villach the storage capital of Europe in a production network with Munich and a new factory in Regensburg. Internally, the project was called "Project Mega," and Der Spiegel also reported on it.
Press Photos
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Federal Chancellor Alfred Sinowatz (left) and Science Minister Heinz Fischer (right) during a site tour.tourJPEG | 2.53 mb | 4121 x 2956 px
