Newport Water-Fab Opens Facility

01/01/1998

Newport Wafer-Fab opens facility

Newport Wafer-Fab (NWL), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based QPL International Holdings Ltd., will open a 20,000-m2 facility in Newport (Duffryn), Wales, UK. The 230 million-pound ($360 million) project will complement NWL`s existing fab and test and assembly division, also located in Wales. The project, which incorporates Fabs 2 and 3, is scheduled for completion in 1998. This will result in the creation of one of Europe`s most advanced wafer fabrication facilities.

Initially, the new facility will produce 200-mm wafers, reaching volumes of about 12,000 units/month, with a variety of CMOS and customer-specific process technologies. The facility will operate in a SMIF environment using 0.35-micron production capabilities. Working in partnership with leading companies, such as licensing partner SGS-Thomson, NWL will run its advanced HCMOS 0.5-micron process technology.

NWL`s existing facilities in Wales employ 500 people, and the new facility will create an additional 700 jobs for the region. The investment was supported by the Welsh Development Agency, which partnered NWL to provide financial assistance for the construction and fitting of the new facility.