New €100 million Jenoptik fab officially opened in Dresden

08 May 2025

“State-of-the-art plant” to manufacture of micro-optics for semiconductor sector.

After two and a half years of construction, the Jenoptik Group has inaugurated its new factory (or “fab”) in Dresden, Germany, which represents the company’s largest single investment in its recent history. By expanding its production and research and development capacities for micro-optics, Jenoptik says it is supporting production technologies with high-precision sensors for high-performance chips, including for applications in AI.

The new fab in Dresden was officially opened on May 6, 2025 in the presence of customers, partners, and representatives from business, politics, including from the Free State of Saxony and the City of Dresden.

Jenoptik President & CEO Dr. Stefan Traeger and Site Manager Dr. Andreas Morak pressed the symbolic start button, which opened the fab accompanied by a short light show. The Jena-based company also invited around 200 employees from its micro-optics business in both Dresden and Jena to a joint employee celebration to mark the opening.

“We are proud that we have completed this largest single investment in the company’s recent history, at just under 100 million euros, on schedule. In a challenging environment with constantly rising prices and scarce resources, this is an outstanding achievement,” said Dr. Traeger.

Saxony’s Minister President Michael Kretschmer said: “The opening of the new Jenoptik factory in Dresden is a strong signal for innovation and cooperation in Silicon Saxony. The fact that the world-renowned Jenoptik Group has now consolidated its production of special micro-optics and sensors for the semiconductor equipment industry here means additional positive effects in terms of employment and value creation.”

‘Demanding manufacturing environment’

The new high-tech fab now employs almost 100 people in what is described as “a demanding manufacturing environment”. Production takes place in ISO 5 and ISO 3 clean rooms, which meet the highest requirements for vibration-free operation and temperature stability.

The locations previously distributed across the City of Dresden are now united under one roof, the company stated. The new location offers significantly expanded production capacities for technologically-sophisticated micro-optics and sensors. These are mainly used in systems for semiconductor lithography and inspection, but also in systems for laser material processing, for example.

Photonics as growth driver

The semiconductor equipment industry is the most important area of application for the micro-optics manufactured at the Dresden site. Micro-optical sensors enable, for example, the precise positioning of wafers during lithographic processes in chip manufacturing. Areas of application include both deep and extreme ultraviolet (DUV, EUV) lithography.

The firm has been active in Dresden since 2007. In addition to Dresden, Jenoptik also manufactures its high-precision and micro-optics at its sites in Jena and Triptis (polymer optics) in Thuringia, in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, and in Jupiter (Florida) and Huntsville (Alabama), USA. The Group employs around 4,600 people worldwide.