Apr 04, 2001 Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI), announced it will further expand its presence in China by building a new IC (integrated circuit) assembly and test plant at the Suzhou Industrial Park in eastern China. The new plant is part of Philips Semiconductors' long-term attitude towards facility investment and will help meet the high anticipated demand for the company's semiconductor chips, which are used in a variety of applications including consumer electronics, communications, computing and automotive products. Completion of the two-phase construction is expected by 2006.
By this time 3,500 jobs will have been created, including 500 engineering posts. It is expected that the majority of the positions will be filled locally, with new recruits benefiting from the excellent Philips training and benefits package. Final capacity will be 750 million units mostly in high end BGA and CSP packages (BGA= Ball Grid Array, CSP= Chip Scale Package). Actual production will begin as early as Q2, 2002, after completion of the first phase of construction and, on completion, the new factory will cover an area of more than 100,000 square meters.
"We have long realized the importance of China in our strategy for growth and have made significant investment in Asia Pacific as a whole in recent years", explained Arthur van der Poel, President and CEO of Philips Semiconductors. "This new facility in Suzhou is part of our long-term growth strategy. As we have demonstrated in the past, we look to the long-term needs of our customers, while also managing through the short-term market developments." Ger Schonk, Senior Vice President of Philips Semiconductors Assembly and Test Organization added, "As one of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers we investigated carefully possible locations of our new plant. In choosing the Suzhou Industrial Park we found we had access to a wide range of potential employees and a well-developed technical and logistics infrastructure both of which are key ingredients in the success of our venture. The new plant will perfectly complement the existing IC assembly and test facilities we have located in Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines."
Suzhou Industrial Park is a high-tech park in eastern China situated to the east of the ancient city of Suzhou at the intersection of China's two vibrant economic areas the Coastal Economic Belt and Yangtze River Economic Belt. Part of the Jiangsu Province, Suzhou Industrial Park is about 80 km from Shanghai.
Philips Semiconductors, which had annual revenues of approximately US$6.3 billion in 2000, designs and manufactures semiconductors and silicon systems platforms. Philips Semiconductors is spearheading the emerging field of systems on silicon solutions with the innovative Nexperia platform and VLSI Velocity tool set. The company's Sea-of-IP design methodology allows plug and play intellectual property blocks for easily customizable products. The company is a leader in communications, consumer, PC peripherals and automotive semiconductors, which are key applications for convergence in end-user products. Philips Semiconductors is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and has operations throughout the world.
