Philips Semiconductors, the chipmaking wing of the Dutch electronics group, said on Friday that it had completed a $200m extension to its factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which will give the site the capability to turn out 50,000 eight-inch wafers for radio-frequency applications a year. A spokesperson told ComputerWire that the investment addressed demand from cellular phone and pager manufacturers.
The semiconductor manufacturing line begins operations now, ramping to full production capacity during next year, the company said. Philips will not add to its 900-strong workforce at Albuquerque to staff the production line, citing its improved efficiencies and a higher degree of automation. The line will deploy 0.25 micron BiCMOS production processes to produce the chips. The new eight-inch production capacity sits alongside the site’s current six-inch manufacturing line, which can produce 260,000 wafers a year.
Earlier last week, Philips announced a 250m Euro ($252.3m) investment in its Nijmegen plant in the Netherlands to ramp production capacity of its eight-inch wafers for DVD, TV, Smartcard and communication applications. Expansions made to the Dutch plant, including the recruitment of 200 new staff for the 4,000-strong facility, will boost yearly production capacity by 50% to 300,000.
