EU approves €450M Czech grant for onsemi's EV-era chips while the model runs on AI
The European Commission has cleared a €450 million Czech grant toward onsemi's silicon-carbide plant in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, on electric-car and charging-station grounds. onsemi's own September model grows the car business about 9% a year and its AI data-center business at 50%.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
On 23 September 2026 the European Commission cleared a €450 million (CZK 12 billion) Czech grant, about 27% of onsemi's €1.64 billion integrated silicon-carbide plant in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, with commercial operations due by 2027 1. The plant covers every step from crystal growth to finished devices, the first of its kind in the EU, on terms that include sharing profits above current expectations with Czechia and priority-rated orders in a supply crisis 1.
Commission vice-president Teresa Ribera called the chips "crucial for green technologies, such as electric vehicles and charging stations" 1.
The car market behind that rationale spent two years in the ditch
Silicon carbide boomed through 2023 on EV traction inverters, then slumped as EV growth slowed and inventories cleared 2. Industry SiC revenue of $812.6 million in Q2-26, up 12.1% on the quarter, still sits below the Q3-23 peak, and onsemi's estimated SiC line had only just rebounded 12.5% to $215.7 million 2.
Reported revenue ran the same arc: $2.18 billion at the Q3 2023 peak, a $1.45 billion trough in Q1 2025, $1.60 billion last quarter 3.
onsemi's revenue is still a quarter below its 2023 peak
Data
| onsemi revenue | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '23 | $2.18B |
| Q4 '23 | $2.02B |
| Q1 '24 | $1.86B |
| Q2 '24 | $1.74B |
| Q3 '24 | $1.76B |
| Q4 '24 | $1.72B |
| Q1 '25 | $1.45B |
| Q2 '25 | $1.47B |
| Q3 '25 | $1.55B |
| Q4 '25 | $1.53B |
| Q1 '26 | $1.51B |
| Q2 '26 | $1.6B |
onsemi's SiC revenue spent 2025 going sideways, then jumped 12.5%
Data
| onsemi SiC revenue (est.) | |
|---|---|
| Q1 25 | $168M |
| Q2 25 | — |
| Q3 25 | $192M |
| Q4 25 | $188.5M |
| Q1 26 | $191.7M |
| Q2 26 | $215.7M |
The driver-side payoff is thinner still: the newest packaging cuts inverter losses 15%, worth about €2.90 a year over 15,000 km 4.
onsemi's own model grows cars 9%, AI power 50%
At a 16 September investor day, onsemi put AI data centers beside cars as a growth engine 2. "More power is really not enough," CEO Hassane El-Khoury said. "We need better power." 5
The model behind that: AI data-center revenue above $500 million this year, about $1 billion in 2027 and more than $2.5 billion by 2030, at least 50% annual growth against about 9% for automotive on flat vehicle production 56. Per-rack content climbs from about $15,000 to more than $115,000 as data centers move to high-voltage DC, and $45 billion of an $81 billion market expansion is AI 5.
onsemi's model quintuples AI data-center revenue by 2030
- AI data-center revenue (target)
- Estimate
Data
| AI data-center revenue (target) | |
|---|---|
| 2026 (estimate) | $0.5B |
| 2027 (estimate) | $1B |
| 2030 (estimate) | $2.5B |
Shares fell about 9% on the targets, extending a slide that began with its agreement to acquire AI edge company Synaptics 26. A slew of Wall Street analysts lowered their price targets after the presentation 6.
The check is not wasted, if the AI bet lands
High-voltage DC racks need silicon carbide and GaN too, and Jefferies expects Infineon and onsemi to divide that opportunity 7. The Commission found onsemi would not build in Europe without public support, a finding that rests on the company's own counterfactual 1.
The alternative is on the record next door: Intel picked Magdeburg for two €17 billion fabs in 2022, then scrapped the German site and a Polish plant in its 2025 restructuring 8. The onsemi grant is the eighth such approval, after €12.8 billion of EU chip aid 1.
2027 is the tell
Rožnov's first commercial output and the model's AI doubling are scheduled for the same year 15. The €2.90 a driver saves on this silicon is real; the €450 million is buying something else.
How this brief was made
01Gathered & sourced407 channels · 1,139 articles▾
Agents swept 407 channels and ingested 1,139 articles, then de-duplicated and ranked them for signal.
02Verified & cross-validated8 claims · 15 data feeds▾
Every one of 8 load-bearing claims was checked against primary sources, with 15 live data feeds reconciling the figures and charts.
- 1telecomkh, The European Commission approves €450 million Czech State aid for Onsemi's new semiconductor manufacturing facility, 23 September 2026
- 2Robert Castellano (The Information Network estimates), onsemi's SiC Rebound Shows Why AI Data Centers Are Its Next Growth Engine, September 2026
- 3Sharadar quarterly fundamentals, from onsemi's SEC filings, retrieved 26 September 2026
- 4EVmagazine, Onsemi EPP: 4x inverter power density, 15% lower losses, for a driver €2.90 a year, September 2026
- 5Transcript Daily, onsemi Targets $2.5B AI Data-Center Revenue, Sets Ambitious 2030 Margin Goals, 20 September 2026
- 6The Motley Fool, Here's How ON Semiconductor Is Targeting a $213 Billion AI Power Opportunity, 23 September 2026
- 7Proactive via Yahoo Finance, Onsemi well positioned for rising data center power demand, Jefferies says, 23 September 2026
- 8Wikipedia, Intel (Magdeburg and Poland fab cancellations), accessed 26 September 2026
03Reviewed & edited2 human editors▾
2 editors read the draft against the evidence, tuned the framing, and signed off before it shipped.
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