 The firm is casting around for growth opportunities |
Germany's Infineon, the world's sixth-largest semiconductor maker, is to invest $1.2bn (�760m) in China over the next four years. Speaking at the opening of the firm's new Chinese headquarters in Shanghai, chief executive Ulrich Schumacher said the firm was planning to win 10% of Chinese chip orders.
As demand for hi-tech equipment takes off in China, the region is seen as one of the few truly promising parts of a sluggish global chip market.
And low costs could make China a valuable base for exporting to the rest of the world, Mr Schumacher said.
High hopes
About a quarter of Infineon's proposed Chinese investment will go to a new chip assembly plant in the east of the country.
The firm is also casting around for joint-venture partners, and is marketing itself aggressively in a few major contracts - notably a government order for chips for at least a billion new identity cards.
Infineon already boasts 30% growth rates in its Chinese business, with the greatest hopes pegged on DRAM memory chips.
Overall, China is tipped to consume chips worth $30bn this year, up almost 20% on 2002.
Buoyancy there is in sharp contrast to demand in developed economies, which remains stagnant after a heavy fall in 2001.
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