He adds that construction of the new facility is expected tobegin in the first quarter of 2001 with production commencing byearly 2002. The development is part of IBM's $5 billion investmentin the semiconductor chip sector. A key component of its investmentprogram is the previously announced $2.5 billion project in EastFishkill. IBM's Loughran says that the remainder of thesemiconductor chip investment program involves "ramping up the chipand packaging technologies" at its other plants around the world.Those facilities are located in: Burlington, VT and Endicott, NY,and abroad in Japan, France, Ireland and Canada.

The Shanghai facility will produce electronic cards and hightechnology chip carriers incorporating IBM's packaging technologiescalled surface laminar circuitry and HyperBGA. These technologiesare used in wired and wireless networking applications, Web serversand pervasive computing market segments, IBM officials say.

"The establishment of the new packaging facility in Shanghaisignifies a new phase in bringing advanced technology to China,"says Henry Chow, chairman and CEO of IBM Greater China Group.