Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann visits TRUMPF: regional innovation set to power future industrial growth

Today saw a visit to TRUMPF by Winfried Kretschmann, minister-president of Baden-Württemberg. He was welcomed by Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Chief Executive Officer and Chairwoman of the Group Management Board, Peter Leibinger, Chief Technology Officer, and Mathias Kammüller, Chief Digital Officer. TRUMPF board members offered insight into a range of issues, including the manufacture of laser systems for chip production in Asia and the US. This industry, which forms a key link in supply chains for a host of industrial applications, is currently facing strong pressure to meet orders.

The Dutch high-tech company ASML uses EUV lasers from TRUMPF to manufacture lithography systems required for the production of the latest generation of microchips, as used in smartphones, for example. These systems, which also feature sophisticated industrial mirrors from ZEISS, are employed by chip manufacturers around the world, including TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. In the last fiscal year, TRUMPF sales of EUV laser technology alone amounted to 500 million euros – around the equivalent to the company’s annual sales in the US or China. Over the same period, total sales were 3.5 billion euros. For the current year, the company anticipates substantial growth in EUV sales, which it projects will rise to around 600 million euros. TRUMPF will publish preliminary results this coming July, after completion of the current fiscal year on June 30.

Minister-President Kretschmann and Dr. Florian Stegmann, head of the Baden-Württemberg state chancellery, were also given an introduction to the TRUMPF smart factory – a fully automated sheet-metal processing operation that utilizes a combination of software, artificial intelligence and digitally connected machinery. This prompted a discussion between Minister-President Kretschmann and the TRUMPF managing board on the economic prospects and opportunities for Baden-Württemberg in the light of competition from other industrial locations around the world, not least in the area of future technologies. Q.ANT, for example, a wholly owned TRUMPF subsidiary, has recently presented the first industrial-grade quantum computer chip. Within the next five years, this should be enhancing mainframe computers and making them more powerful.

“It is truly remarkable how TRUMPF’s innovation and vision enable it again and again to occupy a strategic position in key areas of future technology”, said Minister-President Kretschmann. “The company is an international figurehead for Baden-Württemberg’s industry. TRUMPF successfully combines a regional focus with a global outlook.”

TRUMPF to invest over 200 million euros in its Ditzingen site

“We have everything required to ensure that Baden-Württemberg remains successful, and jobs secure over the coming decades,” Leibinger-Kammüller said. The innovative power of companies such as TRUMPF was helping develop new opportunities for value creation in the area of laser-based chip production, electronics, and power transmission and energy storage technologies based on superconductors, she added. These bright prospects for Baden-Württemberg as an industrial location were also underscored by the continuing growth in order intake – rising most recently to 4 billion euros – as well as new investment to 2026 of over 200 million euros in construction at the Ditzingen site, including a production area for laser technology.

“The digital transformation of the economy offers great opportunities, especially for manufacturing companies with a strong research focus and close ties to higher education and vocational training,” Leibinger-Kammüller said. “These alliances must be strengthened. I thank the minister-president for his visit at what is a pivotal time for industry.”

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