VEB Halbleiterwerk Frankfurt (Oder) (abbreviated HFO or HWF) was the largest manufacturer of semiconductor devices in the German Democratic Republic.

[3] In January 1961 new production facilities for germanium alloy-junction transistors and diodes went into operation in the Markendorf quarter of Frankfurt (Oder).

[6] Due to CoCom restrictions and the scarcity of convertible currency in the East German economy, semiconductor manufacturing equipment could not be bought in the West.

HFO resorted to building some of the equipment themselves, such as a chip sorter that automatically measured circuit parameters at different temperatures (Uni-Sorter 6202[6]) or a wafer test system (SSM100[7]).

The scarcity of convertible currency in the East German economy prompted the country to manufacture as many products as possible domestically.

[6] In 1987 HFO manufactured about 300 different basic types of integrated circuits (i.e. excluding variants selected based on certain parameters).

[6] Like most larger enterprises in East Germany, HFO was obligated to produce consumer goods in order to alleviate the general shortage of the latter.