10 million m² capacity plant underpins etch-free circuit push into car trim

A Swedish plant with annual capacity above 10 million square metres of flexible circuits is the production base behind a new blind-spot warning light embedded in A-pillar trim, shown at electronica in Munich from 10 November 2026.

DP Patterning, which runs the 3,500-square-metre factory in Norrköping that opened in September 2026, built the demonstrator with Artifex Systems — the electronics arm of Tata AutoComp (a tier-1 supplier to OEMs) — and ams OSRAM. Everything was made in Sweden except the LEDs.

The technology is the point. DP Patterning's patented Dry Phase Patterning (DPP) cuts circuit patterns mechanically from solid copper-clad aluminium on a roll-to-roll line. No etching chemicals. No printed silver. No water. Swapping silver for aluminium cuts material costs, the company says.

What does the process change?

Conventional flexible circuits rely on chemical etching or printed silver inks. DPP removes both, along with the water and chemical handling that come with etching lines. The process already serves heater and antenna applications in production. The A-pillar demonstrator — curved trim with an integrated light — is a tougher, near-production test of the same mechanics.

Artifex, which moulds door panels and pillar trims, initiated the project to embed electronics directly in its parts. Ams OSRAM, a collaborator since 2025, supplies the LEDs, its AS1163 driver chips and the lighting design. The demonstrator puts the whole chain in one place: substrate, patterning, moulding partner, LED and driver.

The trust problem

Erik Berggren, business development manager at DP Patterning, framed the challenge plainly: "The hardest thing for a new manufacturing technology is not making it work. It is getting customers to trust it in production. A light built into a car pillar is a demanding application, and we have built it with almost the whole chain in Sweden."

He added: "That gives companies with simpler applications a good reason to trust us. European automotive is under pressure, and this shows that new technology can make local production competitive."

That local angle matters. A single Swedish supply chain — patterning, moulding, lighting design — is the pitch to European OEMs weighing reshoring (moving production back to Europe) against cheaper offshore circuit suppliers.

Supplier claims to watch

Treat this as a demonstrator announcement, not a production win. No OEM platform, timing or volumes are named. The Norrköping plant's stated capacity above 10 million square metres per year is a plan, and current demand from heaters and antennas won't come close to filling it — automotive trim lighting is the volume case.

What to watch next: whether the Artifex demonstrator converts into a named OEM program, when DPP circuits first appear in a series-production interior part, and how quickly the September 2026-opened plant's utilisation builds toward that 10-million-square-metre ceiling. Electronica, running from 10 November 2026, is where Tier-1s and OEM engineers will first kick the tyres.