Japanese high-tech giant NEC said yesterday it will resume boosting capacity at a semiconductor joint venture in China after freezing investments in 2001 because of a market slump.
Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co, which is 28.6 percent owned by NEC Corp, will spend about Japanese Yen 10 billion (US$85 million) on expanding its production capacity by 60 percent by the end of this year, an NEC spokesman said.
The venture, which supplies products to NEC companies, would also expand its customer base to local home appliance and mobile phone manufacturers, said the spokesman.
Monthly production of eight-inch wafers would be lifted to 32,000 from 20,000. The firm, majority-owned by Shanghai Hua Hong, will become one of the largest producers of wafers in China.
"We expect demand in the Chinese market to grow considerably," said the spokesman, adding that the joint venture was also targeting customers in the US.
Separately, NEC said it would appoint senior executive Akinobu Kanasugi as president to replace Koji Nishigaki, who is retiring.
No reason was given for the decision but a news conference was scheduled for later in the day.
Nishigaki was hospitalized in October, the Nihon Keizai reported, adding that the issue had not yet been decided.
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