Asia continues to be important for Numonyx

SINGAPORE--Asia will continue to be strategic for newly-launched Numonyx, according to its chief executive officer.

Brian Harrison, who previously headed Intel's flash memory group, said in a telephone briefing Tuesday that demand for flash memory chips continue to grow in the region.

"We see a consistent trend where increasingly electronics systems assembly and manufacturing is increasingly done in the Asia-Pacific," said Harrison. "That trend has been in place for a number of years…we don't see that as changing, so we continue to have customers based in Asia and continue to support them."

Of Numonyx's 7,000-strong headcount worldwide, slightly over half are located in Asia.

Numonyx has substantial investment in the region, said Harrison. One of its two 200mm wafer fab plants is located in Singapore, while its largest assembly and test operation is in Muar, Malaysia.

Over in China, it has an assembly and testing facility with some development capabilities in Shanghai, as well as a 300mm wafer fabrication joint-venture outfit in Wuxi. There is also a test and development facility in Cavite, the Philippines.

"All of these continue to be important parts of our operations today and for the foreseeable future," Harrison proclaimed.

First announced last May, Numonyx combines STMicroelectronics' NAND business and Intel's NOR flash memory unit. Private equity firm Francisco Partners has a minor stake in the company.

The company is preparing to launch a new technology, phase-change memory (PCM), later this year. PCM essentially combines the best attributes of NOR, NAND and DRAM.