News

Nexperia Announces Increase in R&D and Global Production Spending

March 02, 2021 by Shannon Cuthrell

The Dutch semiconductor manufacturer announced plans to increase its investment in R&D and production capacity in 2021.

Nexperia, a Netherlands-headquartered semiconductor manufacturer specializing in high-volume production, recently revealed plans to increase its R&D and manufacturing capacity investments over the course of this year.

 

Image courtesy of Nexperia.
Image courtesy of Nexperia.
 

Chiefly, the company plans to boost production efficiency with new 200mm technologies at its wafer fabs in Hamburg, Germany, and Manchester, England. The Hamburg site will receive new wide bandgap semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. Further, Nexperia will improve its test and assembly capabilities at its factories in China, Malaysia and the Philippines. These efforts will also include implementing advanced automation and system-in-package capabilities.

On the R&D side, Nexperia will invest 9% of its total sales into new product development across its R&D sites in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Germany and the U.K.

In a press release, Nexperia Chief Operating Officer Achim Kempe cited increased vehicle electrification, 5G communications, Industry 4.0 and the mainstream GaN design adoption as drivers of current semiconductor demand. 

“The additional global investment will ensure that we continue to provide the technology and manufacturing capacity needed to deliver products in volumes that support future demand,” Kempe added. 

Nexperia’s portfolio includes small-signal diodes and MOSFETs, bipolar transistors, electrostatic discharge protection devices, GaN FETs, and analog and logic integrated circuits. It targets automotive, 5G, industrial, IoT, mobile, consumer and computing markets. 

Nexperia launched out of Philips (now NXP Semiconductors) in 2016 and operated as a unit of NXP before spinning off as an independent company in 2017. Shanghai-based Wingtech Technology—which manufactures semiconductors and communications equipment for smartphones, tablets and other devices—acquired Nexperia in 2018 for 25.2 billion yuan (equivalent to around $3.63 billion USD at the time). With further reach into the Chinese market and expanded capacity to meet new demand, Nexperia surpassed $1 billion in sales over 2018. 

According to Wingtech’s website, Nexperia launches more than 800 new products every year, adding to its lineup of over 15,000 types of products. The company claims a 14% global market share, with over 90 billion products shipped annually and over $1.4 billion in revenue in 2019. 

Last year, Wingtech invested $1.85 billion to build a 12-inch wafer fab in Shanghai. The factory is expected to open in 2022 with an annual output of 400,000 wafers.