SMART Modular Technologies Opens New Factory in Amazonas, Investing Over R$ 150 Million and Creating 160 Jobs

From The Million-Dollar Investment In Technology, Smart Should Produce 7 Million Units Of Its Products At The New Plant

The developer and manufacturer of semiconductor components and electronic memory, data storage, and communication devices Smart Modular Technologies inaugurated its new industrial plant with a million-dollar investment in technology on March 22, in the Free Trade Zone of Manaus, for the production of DRAM memory modules, SSDs (Solid State Drives), and connectivity modules for the Internet of Things.

With investments exceeding R$ 150 million in the first three years, the technology company has been expanding its production capacity, varying its portfolio of cutting-edge solutions and also aims for export while continuously meeting the growing demand of the domestic market. With the new venture, Smart expects to generate 160 local job openings in the technology sector.

Company Plans

Furthermore, according to G&A Comunicação, the technology company intends to manufacture up to 5 million DRAM memory modules, one and a half million SSDs, and 500 thousand connectivity modules, totaling 7 million units in the first year of operation, which will be combined with up to 20 million memory integrated circuits that will be tested and marked at the new factory, increasing Smart’s testing capacity for semiconductor components. Additionally, essential investments will be made for research and development of new technologies over the years through strategic partnerships with public and private R&D institutes in the region.

Rogério Nunes, the president of Smart in Brazil, says: “We decided to expand our activities to Manaus to offer our customers more competitiveness, always delivering the same quality, reliability, and advanced technology that are the main characteristics of our products and solutions. The new structure will allow us to broaden our product lines and offerings, strategically act in other segments, and redirect part of our production to the external market.”

The commercial-scale manufacturing of Smart’s new industrial unit began at the end of last year and is already capable of serving major manufacturers of personal computers, servers, and smartphones in Brazil. Thus, Nunes adds: “The Free Trade Zone of Manaus combines a strategic location and a favorable regulatory environment. These factors are even more important for the semiconductor sector, which has experienced unprecedented growth and can bring great business opportunities to Brazil.”

Pioneering in Brazil

Smart is a leader in the national market for semiconductor components – a product that faced a severe crisis – and assembled modules, having accumulated investments in Brazil that exceed R$ 1.5 billion in productive infrastructure, machinery, and technology equipment, in addition to another R$ 600 million already invested in studies. In this sense, in 2017 the company was responsible for inaugurating Brazil’s pioneering laboratory for prototyping and testing semiconductor components, in partnership with the Eldorado Institute, which is based in Campinas (São Paulo), the only one in the southern hemisphere. The Smart unit in Atibaia, also in São Paulo, employs more than 550 highly qualified professionals and has the potential to encapsulate over 150 million integrated circuits per year and manufactures components with stacking of up to 11 chips, equating in technology to the most innovative and advanced available worldwide.

Flávio Yoshida, Vice President of Operations at Smart and responsible for the Manaus unit, concludes: “We are very happy to inaugurate our new factory and expand our business in Brazil, even in such a challenging scenario. We know the potential of the country in the technological field, and the investments we make here reinforce our belief in the local market.”