And if you consider that the drive to continued cost reduction in consumer electronics will be felt all along the supply chain, then foundries in China make good sense. Fairchild Semiconductor, a pioneer maker of silicon chips in the U.S., acquired an assembly centre in Wuxi in June. It says it's considering further expansion plans, possibly a second assembly and packaging site in Shanghai. Samsung Electronics of Korea, which opened an assembly and packaging centre near Shanghai in 1996 to meet growing demand, is also looking into future investment possibilities. We're closely watching what happens in China and we're looking into what we can do there.
China offers chip makers a number of advantages.
Smaller populations in other countries mean a limited pool of expertise. Singapore, for instance, has to hire engineers from overseas. Scott Stevens, director of communications at Motorola in Hong Kong, agrees. We've been very impressed with the talent in China. We're also China's largest foreign investor.