NXP Opens New R&D Center in France

(Business News & Technology News, 8 Oct 2007)

NXP Semiconductors has opened a new Research and Development center in Caen, France. The company has invested over Euro100 million in the last year, from its existing R&D budget, in a new building and around 800 engineers and researchers. This investment aims at enhancing the Caen facility to develop innovations that will see NXP technology improve products such as digital TVs and mobile phones.

"This event follows the recent announcement of a Euro42 million investment in innovation and manufacturing activities in Vienna," said Frans van Houten, President and CEO, NXP Semiconductors. "It demonstrates the importance of Europe in our annual one billion Euro R&D program and how we use this investment in innovation to maintain leadership in the high-growth areas where we focus. Our 6,000 strong European R&D team consistently deliver the technologies that enable our customers to bring competitive and differentiating products to market."

Stressing the importance of innovation that quickly comes to market, van Houten pointed to the latest HDMI 1.3 receiver chip, recently unveiled at IFA, that was created by the team in Caen: "This technology, which improves the audio and video performances and lowers the costs of High-Definition (HD) audio/video receivers, has been well received by customers and demonstrates how R&D teams bring value to our company."

The teams at the Caen R&D center, which number close to 800 engineers and researchers, are developing ground-breaking technologies for four of NXP¡¯s focus areas (Mobile & Personal, Home, Multimarket Semiconductors and Identification). Some of the research and development areas include RF technologies, Silicon tuners, System-in-Package process technologies as well as other innovative semiconductors solutions such as Near Field Communication (NFC).

In addition to the NXP activities at the Caen facility, the R&D center houses a joint research institute with CNRS, called ISyTest (Institute for System Testing). The goal of this institute is to develop innovative testing methods and techniques to improve the level of quality of NXP's increasingly complex system solutions.

Explaining NXP's choice for the area of Caen, Henri-Alain Rault, President of NXP France said: "Caen has always been the ideal location for our R&D activities: it boasts a strong entrepreneurial culture and commitment from the public authorities, as well as a solid ecosystem formed by research laboratories, regional Pôles de Comp¨¦titivit¨¦, engineering schools and technical expertise."

During its 50-year presence in Caen, NXP has always been highly involved in the area's dynamic ecosystem. NXP's R&D Center, which is now located on the new EffiScience Technological Campus, brings together the key elements that help attract high-tech activities and partners onto the Campus. This success stands as an evidence of the strong relationships between NXP and the regional public authorities.

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