ON Semiconductor (Phoenix, AZ) stated that it is powering up its power-management products and opening up a global design center in Grenoble, France. The company will use the design center to develop power-management chips and design services to lever the company's pan-European efforts. ON also has facilities in Roznov; the Czech Republic; and Toulouse, France. New power-management products are key to ON Semiconductor's growth strategy, said Alistar Banham, vice president and general manager of the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. “This investment is a significant step in ON Semiconductor's continuing strategy to lead the power-management market," he said in a statement.
The company did not reveal how much it would be investing in the site or how many staff will be employed, but the company did say it chose Grenoble to be close to its European customers and take advantage of the area's engineering talent. The company claims its European design centers already employ more than 60 people, including design, test, computer assisted design and technology engineers.
The company also plans to introduce more than 400 new products this year, anticipating the need for faster data flow for computing on the Internet, and power for the wireless, consumer, computing and automotive markets. The company plans to double its European design effort by the end of 2001, focusing on products for the mobile market.
