San Francisco, Aug 27: Intel said on Tuesday it plans to spend $375 million to build a new assembly and test plant in western China that is slated to begin operations in 2005 or 2006. Construction on the plant in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, will begin in the second half of 2004 and is expected to be completed in 2005, said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman at Intel, the world's largest chip maker.

The company plans to invest about $200 million initially, to be followed by $175 million over a period of time, and to employ about 675 people, mostly hired locally, he said.

Intel already has a testing and assembly plant in China, in Pudong, outside of Shanghai, and has invested $500 million there since it opened in 1999, according to Mulloy.
About 40 per cent of Intel's sales come from the Asia-Pacific region, making it the largest geographic segment for the Santa Clara, California-based company. Bureau Report