Infineon Technologies AG, the biggest chipmaker in Europe, said yesterday its investment in China will reach US$1.2 billion by the end of 2007, with the company planning double the number of Chinese employees.
The German-based firm said it would focus on the automobile electronic, memory and telecommunication industries in China.
It said the number of its Chinese staff will surpass 3,000 in 2007 compared with 1,200 at the moment.
"In next years, we will strengthen our business in China to provide related solutions and services for the whole IT industry," Xia Zhengzhou, Infineon China's public relations official, said yesterday.
The global revenue of Infineon reached 6.15 billion euros (US$7.53 billion) last financial year ending on September 30, 2003, a rise of 18 percent from the previous 12-month period.
Shanghai Daily has learned Infineon's chief executive Peter Bauer will visit Shanghai this month to launch the company's expansion plan for the domestic car-used electronics market.
But Xia declined to reveal more details on the plan.
Along with increasing demand for automobiles in China, the market for automotive electronics will grow 26.3 percent this year from a year ago and automotive semiconductor components rise 22.3 percent year-on-year, said Beijing-based CCID Consulting Co Ltd.
Multinational giants dominate the supply of automotive semiconductor components in China.
Infineon has a memory chip plant in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. It will start trial production next year, with an excepted maximum capacity of 1 billion chips annually.