Melexis plans major European expansion

The company has been present in Sofia since 2000 and is planning to double the manufacturing space as well as significantly extending the R&D and warehousing facilities, adding a further 15'000 square metre to the its currant 7'500 square metre facility. In order to facilitate this, Melexis plans to invest a total of around EUR 75 million over 5 years, with EUR 17 million to be invested this year. This will also result in the need to increase headcount and the workforce is expected to grow from 425 to around 575 employees by the end of 2018, with a further 160 people expected by the end of 2022. In parallel, Melexis is also investing in a brand new wafer-probing site in Corbeil-Essonnes, France. This site will form a vital part of Melexis’ supply chain and will be based around the other Melexis wafer-probing facilities, ensuring consistency across all facilities. Melexis is projecting a EUR 60 million investment in production equipment over 5 years, and some 30 positions will be recruited for in the first instance. The site will begin operations during Q2 of this year. Veerle Lozie, VP Operations for Melexis commented: “After the recent expansion of the Ieper site last year, we are excited to be expanding in two other European locations to help us meet our global growth plans in terms of R&D, logistics and manufacturing capacity for the medium-term future. Not only will these investments bring additional resource and capacity, but also they will ensure that we have a tightly coupled and consistent supply chain to serve our customers. Customers are recognizing the value of our inspired engineering. As a result, we are experiencing significant demand for our products which will continue to grow over the next few years.”