'Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen GmbHʼ ('CPG'), site operator and infrastructure service provider of Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen, has become a shareholder of the Ê»NexWafe GmbHʼ. CPG invested in NexWafe as part of a funding round led by Saudi Aramco and Green Gateway Fund II of Germany, with existing investor Lynwood (Schweiz) AGclosed by end of 2017.

NexWafe is planning to establish the world's first factory for the production of its epitaxially grown silicon wafers in Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen and in close cooperation with the 'Silicon ProductsBitterfeld GmbH & Co. KG' (SPB), also based in the chemical park.

Dr. Stefan Reber, CEO of NexWafe, says: "Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen offers ideal conditions for building our first full scale production site. We are happy to have found in CPG and SPB two strong partners who share our vision and are able to give us comprehensive and dynamic support."

Dr. Friedrich Schaaff and Dr. Hilmar Tiefel, Managing Directors and shareholders of SPB, point out:"Together with NexWafe, we are going to revolutionize wafer production. Our companies perfectly complement one another: While NexWafe has the know-how in the field of epitaxial wafer production, we bring in our experience in the operation of the necessary chemical production plant and in the solar industry."

Patrice Heine, Managing Directors of CPG, explains the unusual investment of a site operator in a start-up: "We constantly analyse our feedstock network and identify new companies with a good fit. Our investment underlines our ambition to be the number one production site in Europe for startups and SMEs in advanced materials and cleantech, such as battery materials or solar wafers in this particular case."

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