Ultimately, it's often the small things that make the big things happen. Based in the Nordostpark industrial park, northeast of Nuremberg, Germany, the manufacturing company is one of the current world market leaders in monocrystalline silicon carbide semiconductor wafers (SiC wafers).

"The company's 25-year history is truly something to celebrate," says CEO Robert Eckstein, recalling SiCrystal's beginnings. The company has been producing SiC wafers since April 1997. These wafers form the basis of modern electronic components and resemble "a CD without a hole." They are almost as hard as diamond and highly heat-resistant. Without these discs, less than a millimeter thick, electric mobility and the digital world would be unthinkable.

Research conducted at the University of Erlangen in the early 1990s laid the foundation for the company, and SiCrystal AG was founded in 1997. It all began with the development and sampling of the first SiC wafers in Eschenfelden, in the Upper Palatinate. In the early 2000s, the semiconductor manufacturer relocated to Erlangen, and in 2009 it was acquired by the Japanese electronics component manufacturer ROHM. This marked a turning point for the company. By wholly-owned and operating its subsidiary in Nuremberg, ROHM created ample space for further development and the establishment of production facilities. This gave the company the decisive boost it needed to mass-produce substrates for power electronics, as it does today.