SAN FRANCISCO—NXP Semiconductors NV will spend about $22 million to expand manufacturing at its fabs in Texas and Arizona to make secure ID chips for U.S. government programs, the company said.
The expansion will enable NXP fabs in Austin, Texas, and Chandler, Ariz., to be certified to manufacture finished products that exceed the highest U.S. and international security and quality standards, according to NXP.
“This initiative advances NXP’s long-term commitment to developing secure ID solutions for federal, state and local government programs in the United States and demonstrates our deep dedication to serving the American market,” said Ruediger Stroh, executive vice president of security and connectivity at NXP, in a press statement.
NXP (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) claims market leadership in secure ID chips. The company says its chips are used for ID documents in more than 120 countries and passports issued by 95 countries.
Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, said in the NXP statement that he expects the expansion to “secure thousands of jobs and further foster the growth of Austin as a major technology hub.”
NXP said its R&D manufacturing facilities in San Jose, Austin and Chandler have also undergone a thorough security site certification process to produce Common Criteria EAL6+ SmartMX microcontroller family products. Common Criteria is an international set of guidelines and specifications developed for evaluating information security products to ensure they meet a rigorous security standard for government deployments.
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