Motorola defers plant opening

The US-based telecoms equipment maker Motorola has delayed plans to start mass wafer production at its US$1.9bn semiconductor plant in Tianjin, Reuters reported. The company had originally intended to start production in the first half of this year, but the downturn in the global chip market had caused it to defer that to the second half of the year. The Tianjin plant would produce eight-inch wafers using 0.18 micron technology, which is relatively advanced for semiconductor production in China. The chips would mostly be used for cellular phones and other telecoms equipment.