TI ramps up production at new facility in Philippines

Texas Instruments (TI) on April 21 announced its new assembly/test facility within the Clark Freeport Zone in the Philippines is fully operational and ramping production with the latest packaging technologies. The site will enable the company to assemble and deliver its analog and embedded processing chips more rapidly to customers.

Opened only 17 months after groundbreaking, the new site builds upon TI's 30-year presence in the region with continued innovation, advanced packaging solutions, such as wafer chip scale and quad flat no lead packaging, and the expanded capacity required to meet customer needs now and in the future.

"With three decades of experience operating in the Philippines, TI is proud to expand its existing infrastructure and leverage a large pool of talent to continue to solve problems for our customers," said Bing Viera, managing director of TI's operations in the Philippines. "The added capabilities and capacity of our new assembly/test site demonstrates our commitment to delivering the high-quality products our customers need, when they need them."

At 77,000 square meters, or more than 780,000 square feet, the site will employ about 3,000 people and ultimately double TI's capacity in the region. Production is coming on line in phases for the assembly and test of many analog and embedded processing products across TI's diverse product portfolio, depending upon customer needs.

Assembly and test is where silicon wafers are sliced into individual chips and then packaged and tested for their electrical functions and reliability before being shipped to customers. At TI Clark, TI is ramping wafer scale packaging (WCSP), which eliminates conventional packaging steps such as die bonding, wire bonding and die level flip chip attach processes. Such an approach enables faster time to market for TI customers.

TI is also adding capacity for qualifying quad flat no lead (QFN) packaging at TI Clark. QFN delivers improved electrical and thermal performance in a smaller package. Designers can take advantage of reduced form factors in personal digital assistants, cell phones, and other portable consumer electronics by using this package.

"We consider packaging an integral part of the chip and overall system, and a key differentiator to meet customers' needs," said Mahadevan Iyer, director of TI's Worldwide Semiconductor Packaging business. "Packaging technology is more of a system solution rather than a single-chip solution, addressing system drivers such as shorter product lifecycles and multifunction integration."

Additionally, TI expects the new site to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in mid-2009, joining TI's Baguio City operations, which recently achieved the milestone. The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings with an emphasis on a holistic approach to design and sustainability. The standard covers water efficiency and atmosphere, materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality. Combined, TI's facilities in the region will make up the largest LEED certified assembly/test sites in the world.