Infineon sets up application innovation centre in Singapore

Firm focuses on upgrading electric mobility, renewable energies and wireless communications solutions.

Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. on Monday announced the launching of an Application Innovation Centre (AIC) to expand the scope of existing research and development activities in Asia. The new set up will be based in Singapore and will focus on the application of semiconductors in the development of turn-key solutions in electric-mobility, renewable energies and wireless communications for the Asian markets, according to an Infineon report.

Infineon’s Asia Pacific regional headquarters is home today to a major R&D centre with about 340 engineers involved in integrated circuit (IC) product and system development, advance IC package development and prototype system development for mobile phones. Infineon plans to invest about 14 million Singapore Dollars (about Euro 8 million) in the centre to bring product innovation closer to Asian customers by developing innovative system solutions unique to the customers’ product requirements for the region. AIC will also facilitate new product concepts for the future by integrating strong system know-how with knowledge of the customers’ products.

Today, Infineon’s microcontrollers, sensors and power semiconductors are helping to advance electric mobility and renewable energies by making solutions such as battery management and solar energy conversion, more affordable through improvements in efficiency. In the area of wireless communications, secured communication based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology hold promises for future e-transaction applications.

“We are pleased that Infineon, one of the world’s leaders in semiconductors, has chosen Singapore for its first Application Innovation Centre in Asia. Singapore will be at the heart of creating new solutions addressing the unique needs of Asian customers, targeting high-growth opportunities, such as in green electronics,” said Mr. Damian Chan, Director, Electronics, Singapore Economic Development Board.

"Singapore is the ideal location for such a highly business-value creating function with its world class infrastructure, R&D ecosystem and available talents,” said Mr. Mathieu Vafadar, Head of Infineon’s Development Centre in Singapore. “It is to AIC’s benefit to tap on A*STAR’s institutes, universities and partners to build technical competency and explore business opportunities in these fields.”

With its Asia Pacific regional headquarters in Singapore, Infineon has established a strong business presence in Asia Pacific over the last 40 years. Core activities include regional sales and marketing for all its business divisions – Automotive, Industrial & Multimarket, Chip Card & Security and Wireless Solutions – as well as assembly & test operations, R&D and a dedicated logistics hub serving Asia. In 2009, the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan contributed approximately Euro 1.36 billion (S$2.28 billion) of Infineon’s reported sales of Euro 3.03 billion (S$5.32 billion).