Prime Minister at Trumpf: Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Mathias Kammüller, Winfried Kretschmann, Peter Leibinger and the Head of the State Chancellery Florian Stegmann (from left)
(Photo: Trump)
Ditzingen Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister is not taking any risks in the pandemic. He sometimes makes Trumpf boss Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller wait 20 minutes. Winfried Kretschmann did a PCR test right before the visit to the flagship medium-sized company because he wanted to be absolutely sure.
Corona is not the most burning issue for Trumpf at the moment. Rather, the head of the company is plagued by delivery bottlenecks – and that very massively. From July to December 2021, incoming orders soared by more than 50 percent to over 2.6 billion euros and were more than a fifth above plan. “But that only leads to slowed sales,” regrets the Trumpf boss.
Because in the same period, sales grew by only a quarter to 1.94 billion euros and were thus more than eight percent below planning despite a strong recovery. “Not only are there a shortage of chips, but also plastics, metals and other raw materials,” Leibinger-Kammüller complains. “Sometimes we have to rent warehouses to temporarily store half-finished machines there until components such as the controller are delivered and then installed.”
All of this costs Trumpf time and money – and that after a previous financial year with stagnant sales due to corona. “We would have the capacity to convert the order boom completely into sales,” says annoyed husband and co-managing director Mathias Kammüller.
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High investments in research and development
Despite a return on sales of over ten percent, the Trumpf management is not satisfied with that. Because hardly any other medium-sized company invests so much in research and development: 382 million euros mean an R&D quota of more than ten percent. “We are also doing something for it,” Leibinger-Kammüller says to her Prime Minister.
Her brother and Head of Development Peter Leibinger addressed an important topic for the future: “When it comes to quantum technology in Baden-Württemberg, we absolutely have to form a cluster with Ulm, Stuttgart, Freiburg and Karlsruhe.”
The federal government had decided to fund quantum technology for the extremely powerful computers with two billion euros. “If we don’t act quickly, the funding will end up with the clever Bavarians,” appealed Leibinger. Trumpf himself is involved in quantum sensor technology and, with his start-up Q.ANT, also wants to develop a chip that can be used as a processor for quantum computers.
EUV laser for exposure of the latest chip generation
“We have decided to invest a lot more money in this,” announced Leibinger. The entrepreneur seemed to be pounding on open doors. “Something like that comes straight to me. we will do that Talks are already underway,” said Kretschmann.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the intellectual, instinctive politician at the head of the state government has grabbed an important topic from a department and made it his own. In February, the plans could accelerate further.
Technology boss Leibinger also took the opportunity to introduce Kretschmann to the currently hottest product. Trumpf supplies the EUV lasers for exposure of the latest generation of chips, without which the current devices from Apple would not be nearly as powerful.
After more than a decade of preparatory work, Trumpf has now achieved sales of 500 million euros with these lasers. Peter Leibinger expects annual sales of around 800 million euros in the next few years.
The unique lasers are installed in their lithography machines by the Dutch ASML. ASML thus has a monopoly in the world. Samsung, Intel, TSMC rely on this technology for their chip production. ASML has thus become the most valuable company in Europe. In 2021, sales climbed by 33 percent to 18.6 billion euros and are expected to grow further in 2022.
That can only be good for the Trumpf family. And high-tech from “The Länd” – as it was written in yellow on Kretschmann’s black corona mask – the green politician also appreciates.
More: “Subsidies in the billions”: Habeck wants to bring chip production back to Europe