Maxim Buys Wafer Plant from Philips for $40M

SUNNYVALE, CA-Maxim Integrated Products Inc. has acquired Philips’ 168-acre chip plant campus in San Antonio, TX for $40 million. The locally based chipmaker says the acquisition includes a production-ready submicron 8-inch wafer fabrication facility.

In its current state, publicly traded Maxim says the capable of producing $500 million per year of revenue. Maxim’s VP of worldwide process technology Vijay Ullal says the facility can be augmented with additional equipment to support $1 billion in annual revenue.

Maxim’s chips convert physical data such as sound, temperature and pressure to digital signals for electronic processing. Its products are used by electronics manufacturers in computers and peripherals, medical devices, industrial control systems, military systems and networking equipment. The company plans to begin manufacturing operations in the San Antonio facility by December 2004.