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Motorola’s announced $1.5 billion investment in chip production was part of a larger $1.9 billion manufacturing complex planned for Tianjin, China. The semiconductor facility, called the Motorola Tianjin Integrated Semiconductor Manufacturing Complex (MOS-17), was designed to combine chip design, wafer fabrication and telecommunications-product manufacturing at one site.
What Motorola announced in Tianjin
On August 21, 2000, Motorola and the City of Tianjin announced approval of a planned manufacturing complex valued at $1.9 billion. Of that amount, $1.5 billion was allocated to semiconductor production; the other $400 million was for wireless-telecommunications products. EE Times reported the announcement.
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The semiconductor operation was named the Motorola Tianjin Integrated Semiconductor Manufacturing Complex, or MOS-17. The headline figure of $1.5 billion therefore described the chip-production portion, not the entire complex.
What MOS-17 was meant to make
MOS-17 was conceived as an integrated operation: Motorola intended to design integrated circuits, fabricate wafers and produce finished telecommunications products at the same site. Its stated focus was integrated solutions for wireless communications, automotive electronics and advanced consumer products, initially for customers in China and nearby Asia-Pacific markets. Contemporaneous reporting described the project’s intended scope.
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In July 2000, Motorola’s Austin-based semiconductor group said its initial chip production plan centered on microcontrollers for wireless communication devices, with automotive electronic chips a possible later product. U.S. export-control approval covered 0.35-micron wafer processes; Motorola was seeking permission to use 0.25-micron processing. Those were plans and approvals reported at the time, not confirmation that the later process upgrade occurred. EE Times’ July report gave those details.
Why reports about approval seemed to conflict
A July 20, 2000 report said Tianjin local officials had announced approval before Motorola had received formal Chinese approval for plans to double the fab’s size. Motorola then said it had spent $750 million and planned to spend another $750 million, with the fab expected to become operational at the end of 2001. That report captured the earlier status.
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The August 21 announcement came later and reported approval of the planned complex. The two reports describe a change in the approval timeline, rather than separate projects: the local announcement came before Motorola’s formal confirmation, which was reported the following month.
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Motorola expected the complex to employ 2,400 people at full production in 2002. The company also forecast that China’s semiconductor market would grow by 17% annually to reach $18 billion in 2004. These are forecasts reported by EE Times in 2000, not verified outcomes. The August announcement report also quoted Motorola chairman and chief executive Christopher B. Galvin describing the site as one of the world’s largest integrated semiconductor manufacturing facilities and the most advanced in China.
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When was the plant supposed to open?
The July 2000 report said the fab was expected to become operational at the end of 2001. That date was a contemporary projection; the announcement and reporting cited here do not establish whether the facility opened on schedule or whether every planned expansion, process upgrade or employment target was achieved.
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