Renesas Technology to bolster analog and discrete semiconductor business by expanding back-end process plant and establishing new design company in Malaysia

Renesas Technology has announced plans to expand its back-end process plant in Malaysia to further strengthen the company’s analog and discrete semiconductor business. In addition, Renesas has established a new analog and discrete semiconductor design company in Malaysia to increase its design resources.

Since its start, Renesas has emphasized on two main business sectors to obtain growth: the microcontroller (MCU) business and the system solutions business with a focus on the mobile, automotive, and PC/AV markets. In April 2007, a new standard product business group was formed to reinforce the company’s analog and discrete semiconductor business. Building on the solid foundation, Renesas has established a third sector in order to achieve further growth.

Renesas currently has two back-end process plants for analog and discrete semiconductors in Malaysia: Renesas Semiconductor (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (RSM) in Penang and Renesas Semiconductor (Kedah) Sdn. Bhd. (RSK), a wholly owned subsidiary of RSM, in Kedah. The current expansion includes the construction of a new building at RSK, which will increase the combined area of the production facilities in Malaysia from the current approximately 37,000 square meters to approximately 43,000 square meters. When the new facility at RSK begins operations in August 2008, the total production of analog and discrete semiconductors in Malaysia will double, reaching around 1.2 billion units per month from 600 million units per month today.

In addition, on January 1, 2008, the analog and discrete semiconductor device design department of RSM was spun off as an independent company called Renesas Semiconductor Design (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (RDM). Renesas is currently in the process of expanding its overseas design resources in locations such as China and Vietnam to reduce design and development costs. As part of the effort, the company plans to hire 100 additional design personnel, increasing the head count to 200 at RDM in fiscal 2009 from the present level of 100.

The analog and discrete semiconductor business currently accounts for approximately 10 percent of Renesas’ business on a consolidated basis. Renesas is making efforts to increase the efficiency of this business segment, in order to grow faster than that of the market.

Xilinx