Unimicron plans to close German PCB plant
Taiwanese PCB maker Unimicron plans to dissolve Unimicron Germany, its PCB plant in Geldern, to reduce operating costs. The group is injecting up to EUR 35 million into the company to complete existing orders, cover severance payments and pay for the liquidation.
The plan appears in two filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange dated 27 October. Unimicron will inject up to EUR 35 million, paid in US dollars, into its subsidiary UniRuwel Holding, which owns all of Unimicron Germany. UniRuwel will then pass the money on to the German company. According to the filings, the dissolution is based on “group planning and operational considerations”, and the transaction has been approved by Unimicron’s board and audit committee.
The money will be used to fulfil existing orders, handle employee severance, repay bank loans and loans from the group, and cover the costs of liquidating the company. It will be booked as a capital contribution rather than new shares, so UniRuwel’s holding in Unimicron Germany remains unchanged.
Just four years ago, Unimicron Germany was investing in the site. In 2022, the company spent around EUR 12 million on a new production building, equipment for desmearing and copper plating, and a new groundwater decontamination facility, as Evertiq reported at the time. The company said back then that it wanted to meet growing demand from the automotive, renewable energy, industrial and medical technology sectors.
The filings don’t say how many employees are affected or when production will stop. According to the Rheinische Post, around 240 employees – the plant’s entire workforce – are affected, and production is set to end in the first half of 2027.
In Data4PCB’s ranking of Europe’s 30 largest PCB manufacturers by 2024 revenue, presented by Dieter G. Weiss at Evertiq Expo Berlin last year, Unimicron ranked 12th, making it one of Germany’s larger PCB manufacturers.
