City Approves Microchip's Tax Break, Fujitsu Accelerates Closing

GRESHAM, OR-All the chips are falling into place for the sale of a 200-acre semiconductor plant here that was idled by Fujitsu at the start of the year.

The Gresham City Council this week approved a $17.3 million tax break for Arizona-based Microchip Technology, which has agreed to pay $183.5 million for the property and installed chip-making equipment, and Fujitsu says it is exercising its option for an accelerated closing that would seal the deal later this month.

The property includes for 826,000-sf of buildings and 75 acres of land available for future development. In 2000, the plant received $350-million in upgrades to convert all production lines to flash memory, the memory used for cell phones and other handheld electronic devices.