Minister President Winfried Kretschmann Visits Physik Instrumente (PI) in Karlsruhe

"I am very impressed to see a medium-sized company from Baden-Wuerttemberg as a key supplier to the global high-tech industry", is how Winfried Kretschmann summarized his visit to PI. "In the fields of digitalization, health, or space technology, PI is bang up to date on the latest mega trends in society and technology. We can count ourselves lucky to have such an innovative company here in our state which, considering the current crises, is actually growing and creating new, future-proof jobs." The company develops and produces components, and systems for nanopositioning. This kind of accuracy is just as important for the manufacturing and quality assurance of microchips, as for medical analysis devices, space telescopes, or the micro assembly of, for example, smartphones. "The business location Baden-Wuerttemberg needs medium-sized businesses and drivers of innovation like PI in order to remain competitive and also play a leading role in the future“, emphasized the Minister President.

PI was founded in 1970 and started as a supplier of equipment for scientific devices and systems. These were used to research numerous new technologies, for example, for semiconductor technology, and to develop new procedures. "We are utilizing our experience-based advantage, and our solutions are being used by 90 percent of globally-leading high-tech companies", emphasized Markus Spanner, CEO of the PI Group. "We are innovation leaders in nanopositioning and, again and again, we enable what seems technically impossible.“ To explain the dimensions of "nano", the CEO makes a comparison: "A human hair is approximately 80,000 nanometers thick. In a figurative sense, we split hairs to the fourth power of ten".

In 2021, the PI Group increased turnover by 27 percent compared with the previous year. To cope with further growth, the company is investing globally in expanding capacities. In Karlsruhe, PI is expanding its production space and is currently advertising 159 job vacancies.
In the course of 2023, in Eschbach in the Breisgau region near Freiburg, Southern Germany, the company is constructing 6,000 square meters of new production, laboratory and office space. This will more than double the operating area. In addition to the open vacancies, PI is planning to hire up to 150 further employees for its site in Eschbach.