Infineon expands manufacturing in Malaysia

Infineon Technologies has announced it will invest $160 million this year to expand its production capacity, research & development and to upgrade its manufacturing facilities in Malacca, Malaysia. The investment will mainly increase the capacity to produce power semiconductors for energy efficiency applications and will add 350 jobs in Malacca in 2011. Today, Infineon employs nearly 7,000 employees in Malacca.

This investment is another step by Infineon to expand its presence in Asia and to integrate more tightly into local market structures. In the fiscal year 2010, Infineon generated 42 percent of its revenues in the Asia region including Japan, thus being the front-runner in that category among all big German companies listed on the DAX stock exchange index. "In order to be successful in Asia you have to do more than just business. It is about recognizing the culture and becoming a part of society. We aim to create local value added, contribute know-how and employ and groom talents," says Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG.

In recent years, Asia has developed into a key market for global semiconductor sales and Infineon has continuously expanded its Asian business. In January, Infineon opened a new entity in Beijing, China, called Infineon Integrated Circuits (Beijing) Co., Ltd. In addition to sales and marketing, application R&D and central functions, the new entity houses a technical center for automotive solutions and an IGBT stacks manufacturing facility. IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors) are power semiconductors used for instance to drive electric motors in cars or high-speed trains and in renewable energy generation systems.