Ceitec S.A. has opened the first IC design center in Latin America. The Brazilian-based company, which specializes in ASIC development and production, plans to add 60 engineers to its team, to design RFID, digital media, and wireless communication chips. The Brazilian government’s investment in this fabrication facility, which is close to production, has reached nearly $210 million USD.
According to Ceitec S.A., engineers will develop chips in the design center’s new Rio Grande do Sul-based facility.
Dilma Rousseff, chief minister of Brazil’s Casa Civil, said that “when a new facility is opened here, it is often a technology transfer, but Ceitec S.A. is quite different. The company is creating a center of excellence that is capable of generating its own technology. These are the first steps to see a new matrix of production in Rio Grande do Sul.”
Eduard Weichselbaumer, the company’s new president, plans to guide the company’s efforts in developing markets in wireless communication, digital media, and RFID.
Sergio Rezende, the Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, asserted that the Ceitec S.A. design center is key to the advancement of the Brazilian economy.
Rezende stated that the “opening of this facility represents another step in Brazil’s return to the microelectronics industry. The company is now in the process of installing equipment at its fabrication plant in Porto Alegre and the goal is to begin chip production by the end of the year.”
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