The new plant will add to the test and assembly capacity and capabilities of homegrown UTAC. With a built-up area of more than 376,000 square feet, the addition of the new plant will give UTAC Singapore a combined floor space of more than 770,000 square feet. In addition to Singapore, UTAC’s manufacturing footprint includes production facilities in Shanghai, China, and Hsinchu, Taiwan.
UTAC plans to consolidate all test and total backend services for mixed-signal and logic products at the new facility. The facility will also house the combined logistics center for all products shipping out of Singapore. The existing facility in the Serangoon North industrial area, in addition to housing UTAC’s corporate headquarters, will focus on high value-added memory test and packaging activities.
Renovation and refurbishment of the new plant began in January, and has since been qualified by and commenced production for several customers. Full renovations and refurbishment of the entire facility is targeted to be complete by early 2007.
The investment, when fully utilized, will add potentially more than a 1,000 workers to its current work force of 2,400 in Singapore and 3,500 regionally. About half of new personnel hired are expected to be operators with the remaining half as engineers and support staff.
“Our expansion in Singapore is driven by higher customer demand for our industry-leading services and is part of a larger effort to alleviate current capacity constraints across the Group,” said Lee Joon Chung, group president and CEO of UTAC. “Our expansion in Singapore will be the first in a line of subsequent expansions of our other regional production facilities.”
Ko Kheng Hwa, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said UTAC's second plant reinforces its key role in growing Singapore's semiconductor industry by providing critical assembly and test services.
“It also demonstrates that Singapore continues to be competitive in attracting major investments and creating good jobs in the manufacturing industry,” he said.
UTAC’s investment is being supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board through extension of its tax incentives and employee training benefits.
“Even as UTAC expands regionally and globally, Singapore remains our home base and an excellent location for high value-added manufacturing,” Lee said. “The highly skilled and flexible work force in Singapore has allowed us to grow and prosper. This expansion demonstrates UTAC’s commitment to Singapore.”
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