High Tech

Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TI) is planning to construct its next major semiconductor manufacturing plant in Richardson, Texas. TI will invest approximately $3 billion in the 300mm silicon wafer plant in the years following groundbreaking in late 2005. The plant will employ up to 1,000 people when fully operational. The siting of the plant in Texas will provide over $300-million in new funding from private and public sources for the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas.  

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. will open a new chip design center in Hyderabad, India by year-end 2003. Cypress, based in Silicon Valley, currently operates 18 design centers worldwide. The new facility will complement Cypress’ current Indian design center in Bangalore. 

Semiconductor equipment maker Brooks Automation has opened a new 18,000-sf cleanroom at its headquarters in Chelmsford, Mass. The facility will consolidate operations previously sited in Billerica; Longmont, Colo.; Mountain View, Calif.; and Valencia, Calif.

The University at Albany SUNY has selected M+W Zander to design and construct the new Nanotechnology Design and Research Center. M+W Zander U.S. Operations, a subsidiary of M+W Zander, Stuttgart, will plan and construct the entire complex with an area of 20,000 square meters including a cleanroom with an area measuring 3,500 square meters. The order volume of the first project phase, which is scheduled for completion in early 2004, amounts to $15-million. The new research complex is intended for R&D of pioneering processes and technology used in semiconductor manufacture.

Samsung Austin Semiconductor is initiating a $500-million improvement of its Austin, Texas plant. Adding 40,000-sf of cleanroom space, the project will update the facility from 130-nanometer to 90-nanometer technology beginning in May 2003. The facility is owned by Seoul, Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Florida photomask maker Photronics will open a new $300-million fabrication center in Shanghai, China. The company also occupies facilities in Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

Entegris Inc., a Chaska-based manufacturer of products to protect semiconductors during shipment, has expanded manufacturing capabilities at its Bad Rapaneau, Germany facility to make both 150 mm and 200 mm Ultrapak wafer carriers.

FASL LLC, a company merging the flash memory operations of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Fujitsu, is planning to build a chipmaking plant in Sunnyvale, Calif. AMD's Fab 25 plant in Austin, which manufactures only flash memory chips, will also become part of FASL.  

Memec Group, a global distributor of semiconductor equipment, has relocated its corporate headquarters to Carmel Valley in San Diego. Previously sited outside of London, Memec Group has leased 92,000 sf in a new 115,000-sf facility, one of five previously occupied by Peregrine Systems.

Network Appliance is constructing a $2.4-million on-site natural gas fired power plant on the roof of its San Jose research and development building. The plant will supply 80% of the data storage manufacturer's electricity needs when it becomes operational in March 2003. The project was partially funded by $800,000 from the state of California's Self-Generation Project. The plant will produce 1.5 megawatts; Pacific Gas & Electric will supply the remainder of the building's 1.8-megawatt peak energy usage.

Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America is initiating a $100-million upgrade of its Eugene, Ore., wafer fabrication facility. Hynix has already invested over $1.6-billion in the facility, which will remain in operation throughout the project. Increasing production by over fifty percent, the upgrade will enable Hynix to manufacture new products for high-end applications in the United States server market. Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America is the U.S. subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of Korea.   

Chip maker Actel Corp. is planning to move its corporate headquarters from Sunnyvale to Mountain View in fall 2003. Increasing square footage by over 20,000-sf, the 160,000-sf lease with Equity Office Properties will provide space to hire an additional 80 employees.

Agilent Technologies, a Palo Alto-based test and measuring equipment developer, has opened a new $92-million business and technology facility in Singapore.

Nassda Corp., a purveyor of full-chip circuit verification software for complex nanometer semiconductors, has relocated its headquarters to Santa Clara, Calif. The new 23,000-sf location more than doubles the size of Nassda previous space, also in Santa Clara.

Ahura Corp. has initiated the design/build interior fit-up of 3,500-sf of laboratory and Class 100,000 cleanroom space in Wilmington. The project contractor is Hodess Building Co. of North Attleborough.