PRESS RELEASE: Conexant Sys Expands Calif. Plant
Dow Jones Newswires
( BW)(CA-CONEXANT)(CNXT) Conexant Increases Manufacturing Capacity Five-Fold for
Wireless Communications and Optical Networking Products
Business Editors
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000--
Company Solidifies Position As The World's Largest Independent Merchant
Market Supplier Of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Semiconductor
Products
Conexant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CNXT) Monday announced that it has completed a major
expansion of its gallium arsenide (GaAs) manufacturing facilities in Newbury Park, Calif., in support
of its two fastest-growing divisions, wireless communications and network access.
The expansion has increased capacity to a record 75,000 four-inch wafer starts per year, as
compared with 15,000 annual wafer starts just one year ago. Conexant invested approximately $80
million in capital equipment to achieve this five-fold increase in capacity.
Conexant will further increase GaAs manufacturing capacity to 95,000 four-inch equivalent wafer
starts annually by the end of this calendar year. Additionally, the new manufacturing equipment that
Conexant has installed in its expanded facilities can be upgraded to process six-inch wafers. This
conversion would increase available capacity to approximately 210,000 four-inch equivalent wafer
starts annually.
Conexant will use the majority of its expanded capacity to manufacture GaAs heterojunction bipolar
transistor (HBT) power amplifiers for the rapidly growing, digital cellular handset marketplace
addressed by its Wireless Communications Division.
GaAs HBT is the technology of choice for power amplifiers because of its ability to maximize a digital
cellular handset's power efficiency and handset battery life. Conexant's power amplifiers support
industry standards for code division multiple access (CDMA), global system for mobile
communications (GSM), and time division multiple access (TDMA) digital cellular handsets.
They also provide the enhanced performance and power efficiency that will be required for future
wideband CDMA standards and for third-generation (3G) wireless voice and data deployment.
"The market for digital cellular handsets is forecasted to continue its growth at greater than 50 percent
annually for the next several years," said Moiz Beguwala, senior vice president and general manager
for Conexant's Wireless Communications Division. "This expansion gives us the capacity to increase
our global market share and solidifies our position as the world's largest independent merchant
market supplier of GaAs semiconductor products."
Conexant will also use the expanded capacity to manufacture GaAs-HBT-based transceivers for
optical communications, addressed by its Network Access Division.
"We are seeing explosive demand with growth rates greater than 100 percent annually for high-speed
networking front-end transceivers in the fiber-optic backbone of today's multi-service
communications networks," said Raouf Halim, senior vice president and general manager of the
company's Network Access Division. "The expanded capacity will help satisfy the demand for these
products, which are at the core of today's rapidly expanding Internet and telephony infrastructure." |
