After around two and a half years of construction, the Jenoptik Group has completed its largest single investment in recent history and officially inaugurated its new factory (or “fab”) in Dresden. By expanding its production and research and development capacities for innovative micro-optics, Jenoptik is supporting production technologies with state-of-the-art, high-precision sensors for high-performance chips, e.g., for applications in AI.
The new Jenoptik fab in Dresden was officially opened on May 6, 2025, in the presence of customers, partners, construction stakeholders, neighbors, and representatives from business, politics, and government agencies of the Free State of Saxony and the City of Dresden. Together with the Minister President of the Free State of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, and the Lord Mayor of the City of Dresden, Dirk Hilbert, Jenoptik president and CEO Dr Stefan Traeger, and site manager Dr Andreas Morak pressed the symbolic start button, which opened the fab with a short light show. Additionally, Jenoptik has invited around two hundred employees from its micro-optics business in Dresden and Jena to a joint employee celebration to mark the opening the following day.
“We are proud that we have completed this largest single investment in the company’s recent history on schedule. In a challenging environment with constantly rising prices and scarce resources, this is an outstanding achievement. Our thanks go to everyone involved in the construction, our employees, and everyone who made this possible,” said Dr Traeger.
The new fab will make Dresden a major location for Jenoptik’s micro-optics activities. “We deliberately chose one of the most important locations for the semiconductor industry in Germany and Europe, where many global companies and research institutions in the industry are present,” said Dr Traeger at the opening ceremony.
Jenoptik invested just under 100 million euros in the new site, which has a total net floor space of 11,000 sqm, including 2,000 sqm for clean room production. In addition, significant investments were made in state-of-the-art production equipment, some of which was relocated and some of which was expanded.
Company
Jenoptik AGCarl-Zeiß-Straße 1
07743 Jena
Germany
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