Global chipmaker STMicro uses robots, retraining to avoid closures

STMicroelectronics plans to retrain workers and deploy humanoid robots in older European chip factories to avoid closures, the company said at a semiconductor conference in Sopot, Poland.

The firm launched a restructuring in October 2024 that included the proposed departure of 5,000 workers.

Thomas Morgenstern, an executive vice president manufacturing, said the company aims to have more than 100 humanoids in the coming years.

He said humanoids will take repetitive and physically demanding tasks so workers can be retrained for higher-skilled roles and that one humanoid can replace three out of four shifts.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Humanoids sit inside a wider ST manufacturing reset

STMicroelectronics wants humanoid robots in older European chip factories as part of an October 2024 program to reshape its global manufacturing footprint and trim costs 1.
The plan puts new money into modern 300mm fabs (semiconductor fabrication plants) in Italy and France. It also aims to raise output from legacy 150mm and mature 200mm manufacturing lines 1.
The European Investment Bank (the European Union’s public lending institution) is supporting the wider investment programme with a €1 billion credit line. A first €500 million financing agreement is signed, tied to Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy 2.
ST expects up to 2,800 voluntary departures worldwide on top of normal attrition. That differs from the 5,000 proposed departures tied to the restructuring plan 1.

Automation offers a model for older factories

ST is working with Oversonic Robotics (a developer of humanoid robots for industrial settings). The companies call it the first operational use of “cognitive” humanoid robots in semiconductor factories 3.
The first unit is at ST’s advanced packaging and test facility in Malta. The RoBee humanoid is meant to help with production and logistics work 3.
The project aims to move repetitive and physically demanding tasks from people to machines. ST also links it to retraining into higher-skilled roles and to keeping European sites open.
CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) has started using humanoid robots too. VnExpress, citing other outlets, connects that move to a broader shift toward industrial automation 4.