German High-Tech Firm Invests in Malaysia

Infineon, the German maker of computer chips, said Wednesday it planned to invest $1 billion dollars (€750 million) in building a new production plant in Kulim High Tech Park, Malaysia. Construction will begin next spring and the plant is expected to go into production in 2006, the company said in a statement. The facility, which will employ approximately 1,700 people, will primarily focus on producing power and logic chips used in automotive and industrial power applications, Infineon said. The new plant will "systematically increase our presence in the future market of Asia," the company’s chairman Wolfgang Ziebart said. "Our continuous investment in Asia also reduces our market risk concerning fluctuations of the dollar-euro exchange rate."