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Infineon Poised to Expand Malaysia Fab |
Friday, September 16, 2005 |
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By: Jonathan Hopfner, EE Times
SINGAPORE — German chip maker Infineon has high hopes for its new plant currently under construction in Kulim, Malaysia, but a final decision to ramp up capacity at the facility will depend on the market conditions, according to a local director for the company.
Tan Soo Hee, managing director at Infineon Technologies (Kulim), said much of the output of the $1 billion wafer fabrication plant, scheduled to be operational by mid-2006, would be serving the automotive industry, which is expected to remain a strong source of demand despite global economic uncertainty and rising oil prices.
'Wafer fabrication plants are long term plans for Infineon,' he said. 'The demand for electronics in automotive is forecast to increase beyond our current available capacity.'
Werner Reczek, an Infineon vice president, said during an Aug. 24 signing ceremony Kuala Lumpur that the facility would hit its maximum capacity of 100,000 wafers per month by 2007 and 2008. He added that Infineon could double this volume by 2008 or 2009.
'Infineon's current landplot in Kulim offers plenty of space to double capacity if the need arises. However, we have not decided upon the time frame, as any expansion plan would be dependent upon market conditions,' Tan said.
The Kulim facility will be the company's second in Malaysia. Its 30-year-old plant in Malacca produces chips for the automotive and industrial sectors as well as wireless devices and memory and logic products.
Tan said the company's decision to invest further in Malaysia was based on the availability of skilled labor, infrastructure and the government's pro-business policies. |
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