Hamburg, Manchester included in Nexperia manufacturing expansion
The company, which already claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors by units shipped – 90 billion units in 2019, .has announced plans to invest in 2021 to address growing demand for power semiconductors and to boost its gallium nitride capability.
These plans include increasing production efficiency at its European wafer fabs in Hamburg, Germany, and Manchester, England. In Hamburg there will be additional investment in equipment for wide bandgap semiconductor manufacturing.
Nexperia said it was increasing its R&D investment benchmark to 9 percent of total sales. In 2019 Nexperia’s sales were more than $1.4 billion indicating a budget of at least $126 million. As the subsidiary of a Chinese company Nexperia no longer produces its own sales figures.
Nexperia recently opened new global R&D centers in Penang in Malaysia and Shanghai in China and expanded the existing R&D sites in Hong Kong, Hamburg and Manchester. The company will also enhance test and assembly capabilities at Nexperia factories in Guangdong in China, Seremban in Malaysia and Cabuyao in the Philippines, including the implementation of advanced automation and system-in-package (SIP) capabilities.
Nexperia was formerly a significant part of NXP Semiconductors but was acquired by Wingtech Technology Co. Ltd. (Shanghai, China) for $3.6 billion in 2019 (see Chinese firm to buy Nexperia for $3.6 billion). Wingtech is a contract manufacturer of smartphones, tablet computers and smart devices on behalf of Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi Corp. amongst others.
Next: Wafer fab
In 2020 Wingtech committed to spend RMB12 billion (about $1.85 billion) to build a 300mm wafer fab for the production of power semiconductors in Lingang, Shanghai. Construction is under way and the fab is due to begin producing components in 2020 with an annual output of 400,000 wafers (about 33,000 wafer starts per month).
“Increased vehicle electrification, 5G communications, Industry 4.0 and the mainstream adoption of GaN-based designs will all drive increased demand for power semiconductors in 2021 and beyond,” said Achim Kempe, COO of Nexperia, in a statement.
Xuezheng Zhang, CEO of Wingtech and Nexperia, added: “Since Wingtech’s acquisition of Nexperia in 2019 we have committed to ongoing investment to support ambitious growth plans and capitalize on the synergies between the two businesses. Following last year’s announcement of the new 300mm fab and the opening of design centers in Penang and Shanghai we are continuing with investments that support our growth across the globe, increase our industrial footprint and market share.”
Related links and articles:
News articles:
China-owned Nexperia refinanced with $1.5 billion
Chinese firm to buy Nexperia for $3.6 billion
Discretes, power chip maker Nexperia raises $800 million
NXP downsizes by 25% with sale of business unit to China
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