July 7, 2005 — The Soitec Group, a provider of engineered substrates for electronic and nanotech products, announced the opening of its first direct sales office in Southeast Asia.

Centered in Taipei, Soitec’s new Southeast Asian office will primarily support operations in Taiwan and Singapore, working with foundries in both locations to help accelerate their transition to SOI (silicon-on-insulator) for their next-generation chips.

To head the new office, Soitec has tapped Bill Chu. Chu held key management positions in sales and purchasing at United Microelectronics Corp., Taisil Electronic Materials Corp. and, most recently, Vishay Semiconductor, where he was purchasing department manager.