Investment in Semiconductor Plants in Brazil
The semiconductor industry is fundamental to the development of the electronic sector. Brazil is still lagging behind in this industry implementation, but in the past few years investments have increased. Here you will find out about three projects that have been developed in the country related to the manufacturing of semiconductors.
The electronic industry is the biggest industrial sector in countries with a developed economy, being responsible for 12% of their GDP, while in Brazil this industry corresponds only to 1,9% of the national GDP. The Brazilian electronic industry is incipient mainly due to the lack of semiconductors production inside the national territory.
The deficiency of the semiconductor industry in Brazil led to heavy and growing deficits in the national trade balance. In 2011, Brazil imported USD 4, 9 billions in semiconductors, according to the Associação Brasileira da Indústria Eletroeletrônica, also known as Abinee, which is the Brazilian Association of the Electro-electronic Industry. The number related to importing of products of this segment to Brazil corresponds to almost 13% of everything that is invested in purchase of electro-electronics per year.
Reducing this figure is a huge step to strengthen the electronic industry in the country, and this perception led the Brazilian government to develop national programs to encourage the implementation of new electronic industries and to encourage activities of R&D linked to this area. Even though the semiconductor industry is still in a process of deployment in Brazil, the outlook for 2013 is good, specially with the participation of big players in this market:
- Ceitec
- HT Micron
- SIX
The manufacturers mentioned above are related to to the new Industrial Park for Semiconductors that is being created in Brazil. While SIX is still under construction, Ceitec and HT Micron – that started the development of the plants in 2008 – are already in a process of consolidation in the market.
Ceitec
Ceitec S.A is a state own Company created in 2008 by the Ministry of Science and Technology and is the first manufacturer of semiconductors in Latin America. The Company was responsible for the establishment of a whole environment to the industry of semiconductors in Brazil, from suppliers – that didn't exist in Brazil – to opening markets, developing new products and preparing qualified workforce.
Located in Porto Alegre, the Company is the result of BRL 500 million investment from the Federal Government. Ceitec S.A. is comprised of a designcenter and a foundry, in which started to operate in 2012, and is the only one in Latin America capable to produce integrated circuits in commercial scale.
The Company has already developed four chips in Porto Alegre. One of them called “chip do boi”, is already produced in a high volume, and is used for cattle identification.
HT Micron
HT Micron is joint-venture project created by the South Korean Company Hana Micron and the Brazilian Company Parit Participações. The facility is being constructed in the city of São Leopoldo, 27 kilometers of Porto Alegre. The project is scheduled to be finished until the second semester of 2013 and might be the biggest Company of Latin America, having the capacity to produce the most advanced types of chips commercialized worldwide.
The place chosen to the installation of HT Micron was the TECNOSINOS Complex, the technological park located inside the University of Vale dos Rios Sinos. Investments of BRL 200 million were direct to the project by BNDES and Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, also known as Finep, which is a Financing of Studies and Projects.
After opening of the factory, the HT Micron revenue is expected to reach BRL 150 million. Assembly lines will have the capacity to encapsulate 50 million of chips per month, including semiconductors to smartphones, flash memory cards and circuits for digital TV. The HT Micron project is part of the PADIS program, that awards incentives and tax relief to companies that bring technology investments to Brazil.
SIX
SIX Semicondutores S.A., also known as SIX, is the result of a partnership established between:
- SIX Soluções Inteligentes, a Technology Company of the EBX group which belongs to Eike Batista
- BNDES
- BDMG, which is the Minas Gerais Development Bank
- IBM
- Grupo Matec Investimentos
- Tecnologia Infinita WS-Intecs
SIX Soluções Inteligentes and BNDES both participate with a BRL 245 million investment which is 2/3 of the total investment in this project. Another BRL 267 million are financed by BNDES being BRL 202 million invested directly and an on-lending of BRL 65 milliond by BDMG, that will have 7,2% of the SIX shares.
The project has as main target to establish the most cutting edge and modern factory of semiconductors in the southern hemisphere. SIX will produce chips to industrial and medical application, as well as, promoting the development of innovative products by their own R&D .
The industrial plant will be settled in Ribeirão das Neves in Minas Gerais, close to the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. SIX is hiring 300 professionals to work in the facility, that is already under construction and is scheduled to start production in March 2015.