AT&S launches 30-million investment in Fehring and celebrates 50 years of the site

Mertin, who had only taken the helm at the then somewhat struggling printed circuit board manufacturer in May 2025, emphasized that everyone on the team had known which customers were served and which processes were necessary: "Unfortunately, that's no longer a given." The regional plant is now "not an appendage, but a necessary site" within the group. According to the CEO, demand for AT&S products is currently higher "than we can serve."

According to the company, one focus of the investments is the new Defense business unit, in which, according to Mertin, "demand is enormous." Products in Fehring are developed together with customers: "That also binds the customers," said Mertin. Mertin did not rule out further expansion in Fehring, where "there had been no investment for a long time."

Defense business as a driver

The site is also growing in terms of personnel: the workforce had most recently fallen to around 300, with 400 employees currently working there. Site manager Christopher Hermann said additional positions had been advertised. For the region, the investment represents medium- to long-term site security in a rather structurally weak area.

Appeal from the Federation of Industries to the federal government

At the ceremony, Georg Knill, president of the Federation of Industries (Industriellenvereinigung), highlighted AT&S as an example of innovative strength and pointed to growing demand in the defense sector. "The security and defense industry is today a central driver of innovation and growth for Europe. Only in this way can Austria seize the opportunities of the European turning point for greater value creation, innovation, and high-quality jobs," said Knill.

Significance for the Fehring region

Knill added that key technologies such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity strengthen not only defense capability but also technological sovereignty, resilient supply chains, and the competitiveness of the site. His appeal was directed at the federal government: it was necessary to "legally anchor industrial cooperations, create legal certainty, accelerate procedures, and improve access to financing as well as European research and industrial programs."

With the "experience world," AT&S wants to show local residents in the future what is actually manufactured in the plant. In doing so, the company is also responding to the regional roots of the site, which has been part of the Styrian industrial landscape for five decades.