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SCMP Reporter

Singapore start-up Infiniti Solutions has secured backing of US$36 million to invest in the chip-testing and assembly arena.

The year-old company is led by Inderjit Singh, a Singapore member of parliament and Infiniti's chief executive officer.

Most of the US$36 million came from the European venture-capital firm 3i and the Economic Development Board Investments - an investment arm of the Singapore government focused on identifying and investing in technology start-ups, with the rest from Infiniti's management team.

According to Mr Singh, part of Infiniti's strategy is to grow through acquisitions to give it an early start. The company had used some of the funding to acquire United States-based chip prototype testing and service firm Viko Technology to help jump-start operations.

'There are great opportunities for mergers and acquisitions now and we are seriously looking at that,' Mr Singh said.

Viko's customers include chip makers Intel, Broadcom, Cypress Semiconductor, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments and Xilinx.

Mr Singh said the company would establish test and assembly capabilities in Asia by next year either from the ground up or via acquisitions.

'We have identified a viable market opportunity in the test and assembly niche, which is relatively resilient through every economic cycle and offers high-growth potential globally,' he said.

He projected sales of S$100 million (about HK$439 million) next year, with more than half coming from Viko's operations. This niche was expected to outperform the overall semiconductor market, which would expand by 20 per cent year-on-year to 2004, he said, citing data from the US Semiconductor Industry Association.

According to a report by the Association, chip sales will grow 1.8 per cent to US$141 billion this year, and then increase 19.8 per cent year-on-year to $169 billion next year. They'll increase again by 21.7 per cent the year after that before flattening out, the trade association says.

Viko has a global workforce of 345 employees, and prototype test operations in Santa Clara, California and Austin, Texas. It also has two design centres in Ahmedebad and Hyderbad, India.

Infiniti's headquarters in Singapore employs 10 marketing and sales staff, including its management team of five.



Infiniti receives US$36m backing for chips