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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (3565)	10/11/2002 9:49:38 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Heard on the Beat Semiconductor Business News (10/11/02 08:33 p.m. EST) Fabs in Tijuana? Don't laugh (too much) What could be the next semiconductor center in the world? Don't laugh, but Mexico could be the next base for chip makers. O.K. Feel free to chuckle. Funny and strange as it may seem, reports are running rampant that the government of Baja is lobbying the semiconductor community to set up wafer fabs in Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego. Mexico, of course, is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The nation is looking for chip makers to invest and build fabs in Tijuana, amid the worst downturn for the IC industry. And most of the new fab action is located in China--not Mexico. One chip maker, who is familiar with Mexico's plans, indicated that the nation hopes to upgrade its electronics sector. For years, Tijuana and other border towns in Mexico have been a haven for contract manufacturers. But fabs? That's a different story. Tijuana does have some advantages--at least according to the city fathers at the border town. “With over 800 maquiladoras, and more than 196,000, workers Tijuana has more manufacturing facilities than any other city in Mexico,” according to the Tijuana Economic Development Corp. (TEDC). “The electronics sector represents approximately 30% of the manufacturing industry in Tijuana. Companies with maquiladora plants in Tijuana are mainly U.S. corporations, but also include firms from South East Asia and Europe,” the TEDC said. “Among them are Sony, Samsung, Sanyo, ADI, Hitachi, Mattel, Sharp, Phillips, and others,” it said. “Tijuana provides an environment favorable to manufacturing operations. Labor and a readily available and mature workforce, including technical personnel, competitive labor costs and easy access to the U.S. together with the services and facilities available in San Diego make it an ideal manufacturing location,” it added.