Infineon has opened its first Asia-based front-end power fab located in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Malaysia. Infineon invests approximately $1 billion in the Kulim power fab. At full capacity, the fab will employ about 1,700 people. Maximum capacity will be about 100,000 wafer starts per month using wafer discs with a diameter of 200 mm (8 in.). The new facility will produce power and logic chips used in industrial and automotive power applications.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the new plant occurred in May 2005. The production site was built in an exceptionally short time of only about ten months with equipment-ready status in March 2006. After ready-for-process status in April 2006, Infineon began production ramp-up in August 2006.