NXP strengthens French operations with new R&D center

NXP Semiconductorshas opened a new R&D center in Caen, France with 800 engineers and researchers. The company has invested $141 million from its R&D budget to enhance the Caen facility.

"This event follows the recent announcement of a [$59.3 million] investment in innovation and manufacturing activities in Vienna," said Frans van Houten, president and CEO, NXP. "It demonstrates the importance of Europe in our annual [$1.41 million] 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."

The teams at the Caen R&D center are developing technologies for four of NXP's focus areas¡ªmobile & personal, home, multimarket semiconductors and identification. Some of the R&D areas include RF technologies, silicon tuners, system-in-package process technologies as well as other innovative semiconductors solutions such as NFC.

In addition to NXP activities, the Caen R&D center houses a joint research facility with CNRS called Institute for System Testing (ISyTest). 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 P?les de Comp¨¦titivit¨¦, engineering schools and technical expertise."