Brazil on the Verge of Becoming a World-Class Semiconductor Hub

Brazilian authorities announced ambitious plans to establish a semiconductor industry in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where 4 million square meters (approximately 990 acres) are being dedicated to semiconductor and semiconductor-related manufacturing and design.

The Minas Gerais Technological Park will be anchored by Companhia Brasileira de Semicondutores (“CBS”). CBS is planning an analog and mixed signal semiconductor wafer fabrication facility (“fab”) which will run high-voltage CMOS, Bipolar, BiCMOS, and other specialized processes. The target completion date of the first CBS fab is early 2007.


In addition to semiconductor manufacturing, the Brazilian government is sponsoring the creation of a cluster of semiconductor design houses which will feed Brazilian and other worldwide wafer fabs.


Brazil’s “Eldorado” project aims to attract foreign semiconductor design companies to Brazil while creating indigenous Brazilian design companies as well.


Brazil is one of the so-called “BRIC Countries” (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) that are now approaching about half the economic size of the G6 countries (U.S., Japan, U.K., Germany, France, and Italy).


According to a seminal report issued by Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs, when taken together the BRICs could be larger than the G6 by 2039 in GDP terms.


With today’s advanced economies representing a decreasing amount of the worldwide economy, shifts in spending patterns will present major opportunities for corporations and investors in emerging markets, especially Brazil.


“Brazil is already a major maker and exporter of advanced high-technology products such as aircraft, consumer electronics, and cell phones and is making the necessary infrastructure and industrial investment to step onto the world stage in semiconductor manufacturing and design.


“The technological park in Minas Gerais, and CBS in particular, are clear indicators of Brazil’s direction and commitment,” stated Dr. Wolfgang Sauer, the CEO and co-founder of CBS and former president of Volkswagen Brazil, Robert Bosch Brazil, Autolatina and special advisor on industrialization to various South American governments.


“For strategic reasons many companies want to have semiconductor manufacturing located in multiple economic and geographic zones. A Brazilian semiconductor industry offers a real alternative to the concentration of semiconductor manufacturing in Asia.”


CBS, located in the Minas Gerais Technological Park, is Brazil’s flagship semiconductor manufacturing venture. CBS is backed by various Brazilian development banks and private investors worldwide.


The company is focusing on analog and mixed signal foundry and standard products for consumer, automotive, and industrial applications worldwide.


CBS – www.cbs-semi.com

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil: 1001 Nights Gets First Translation from Arabic to Portuguese

“O my sister, relate to us a story to beguile the waking hour of ...

Brazil Summit to Discuss Bolivia’s Full Membership in Mercosur

Diplomats of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) arrive today in Rio de Janeiro to ...

The Good Cause

An organization of poor black women, descendants of slaves, overcomes formidable obstacles—including the animosity ...

Gabeira, a Do-gooder Brazilian Politico Among Foxes Devouring Public Chickens

Brazil’s leading news magazine, Veja, praised Congressman Fernando Gabeira as “the champion of ethics ...

Brazil Revamps Family Farming Program

The Incentive Program for Cooperativism in Family Farming and Solidary Economy (Coopersol) was launched ...

Maverick Darcy Ribeiro blasts off

Interview with Darcy Ribeiro “We are, in fact, the new Rome, but a better ...

Brazil: Over 500 Indian Chiefs Camp at the Doors of the Ministries

More than 500 indigenous leaders from all over Brazil have come to Brazilian capital ...

Brazilian Congressmen Want End to Nepotism

Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies’ Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) approved yesterday, unanimously, the Constitutional ...

Best-seller Books, Plays and Movies

Brazil is a strong test of the barriers to Third World military-industrial growth. Unable ...

The Typical Brazilian Homeless Is a Young Black Man with a Job

Male, between the ages of 25 and 44, black, literate, with a paying job.  ...