Jan. 21, 2003 – Tokyo, Japan – NEC Corp.’s semiconductor-making joint venture in China will resume capital spending this year for the first time since 2001.

Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., in which the major Japanese electronics company holds a 28.6% stake, will lift its capacity by 60% in 2003, reported the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The firm will spend about 10 billion yen to raise its capacity.

The joint venture will boost its monthly capacity to 32,000 units of 200mm silicon wafers from 20,000 units, using funds raised independently rather than receiving money from the parent firms, an NEC spokesman said.

NEC declined to comment on a Mainichi Shimbun report that NEC will expand its tie-up with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. to include communications infrastructure.

NEC and Huawei, as well as a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. group company, jointly hold Cosmobic Technology Co. The firm was set up in April 2002 to develop next-generation mobile phone technology.

NEC has also announced the appointment of Akinobu Kanasugi, currently a senior managing director, as the company’s new president replacing Koji Nishigaki.