Atmel expands Scottish site

The opening ceremony was performed by Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise, Jim Wallace, who said, “When I visited Atmel’s San Jose HQ in October 2004, I was delighted to be able to welcome its planned expansion at East Kilbride. I am therefore extremely pleased to now have the opportunity to officially open this new expansion which will see the creation of 80 new jobs and which is supported with the offer of £1.2m Regional Selective Assistance. Atmel has more than doubled its workforce since setting up in Scotland in 1999 and this latest expansion is further evidence of Scotland’s ability to provide the quality of workforce which such an important high-tech inward investor requires. Scotland is not simply providing businesses with an environment to function efficiently – this is a place where firms can thrive.” The business has achieved revenue growth of over 700% in five years and has moved from the 5th to the 2nd largest worldwide supplier of the chips that are used in mobile phone SIM cards, chip and PIN bankcards, electronic passports and many other electronic security applications. The new facilities in East Kilbride will enable further growth of the Smart Card IC business by increasing the size of the integrated circuit design center and increasing capacity in the test and wafer thinning operation at the site. The increased capacity in both design and manufacture is required to support the rapidly increasing customer demand for the Atmel Smart Card IC product line.