On Semi to expand Oregon fab

SAN JOSE, Calif. - On Semiconductor Corp. plans to invest more than $30 million to expand capacity and capabilities at its 8-inch wafer manufacturing facility in Gresham, Oregon.

The company’s Gresham facility remains its most advanced wafer fab–with current production technologies down to 0.11-micron. The expansion is expected to begin during the second quarter of 2011.

During 2011, On Semiconductor plans to invest more than $30 million to increase production capacity in Gresham by more than 45 percent and add capabilities for 110- to 250-nm processes. To support its expansion plans in Oregon, the company expect to hire up to 25 regular staff and 45 contractors before the end of the year.

The Gresham facility supports a variety of technologies used to produce leading- edge power management products. The 83-acre campus has multiple buildings with 500,000 square feet of floor space, including 98,000 square feet of clean room space. Today, the site employs approximately 545 people.

''During the company’s recent Q4 earnings call, On Semiconductor announced plans to dedicate approximately $250 million during 2011 to capital investments,'' according to a spokewoman for the company. ''The $30 million investment in Gresham is a part of this. Also, the capacity and capability expansion in Gresham will be done using existing space – i.e., there will not be any building expansion or construction.''

Looking to keep jobs in the U.S., On Semiconductor last year planned to install another $15.7 million worth of production equipment in its 200-mm Pocatello, Ida.-based wafer manufacturing facility during the next six months.

On Semi recently announced that total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2010 were $579.2 million, a decrease of approximately 4 percent from the third quarter of 2010. During the fourth quarter of 2010, the company reported GAAP net income of $61.0 million, or $0.14 per fully diluted share. The fourth quarter 2010 GAAP net income included net charges of $38.2 million, or $0.09 per fully diluted share, from special items.

Total revenues for 2010 were approximately $2.313 billion, an increase of 31 percent from approximately $1.769 billion in 2009. During 2010, the company reported GAAP net income of $290.5 million, or $0.65 per fully diluted share.  During 2009, the company reported GAAP net income of $61.0 million, or $0.14 per fully diluted share.

It expects sales of $570 to $590 million in the first quarter of 2011. On Semiconductor recently bought another company. The analog and mixed-signal chip maker has acquired the CMOS image sensor business unit (ISBU) from Cypress Semiconductor Corp. in an all cash transaction for approximately $31.4 million.