The new facility will be developed in three stages. The first stage will involve an investment of $96 million, and full-scale production is expected to commence by October 2010.

The initial monthly production capacity will be 20 million 1mm x 1mm LED chips per month. Both investment and production are expected to grow by a factor of three times within a period of three years.

SemiLEDs says that the new facility in China will provide the company with the opportunity to provide further service and support to a growing number of companies involved in solid-state lighting throughout China while further increasing production to meet rapidly growing global demand.

Based in Boise, Idaho, SemiLEDs also has production facilities in Taiwan. In July, SemiLEDs announced the opening of a third production facility in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan (see News), which the company said would bring its capacity for 1x1mm high-power LED chips to 15 million per month.

In September, SemiLEDs announced that it had introduced an MOCVD growth system in its 4-inch wafer facility in Taiwan (see News).

SemiLEDs Chairman and CEO, Trung Doan said “Developing a fabrication facility in the NanHai Economic Development Zone will allow SemiLEDs to be in the center of the LED industry in China. This is especially true since NanHai has invested RMB $2 billion to support the industry’s development.

"The government provides great support and, combined with the local industry, it makes a perfect match. The presence of SemiLEDs in China at such a large scale is a further proof of trust from customers for SemiLEDs products and technology."

SemiLEDs supplies chips to many packaging companies in China that focus on solid-state lighting applications such as street lights, and commercial and residential lighting.

SemiLEDs patented and proprietary LED chip design features a vertical LED structure with a copper alloy base, which provides advantages in terms of thermal management and optical efficacy.