Brazilian authorities today announced ambitious plans to establish a semiconductor industry in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where approximately 990 acres are being dedicated to semiconductor and semiconductor-related manufacturing and design.

Termed the Minas Gerais Technological Park, the site will be anchored by Companhia Brasileira de semiconductores ("CBS"). CBS is planning an analog and mixed-signal semiconductor wafer fabrication facility that will run high-voltage CMOS, bipolar, BiCMOS, and other specialized processes, with a target completion date of early 2007.

Brazil is one of the four BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- that are expected to become major semiconductor hotspots in the coming years. Indeed, Intel recently set up a platform definition camp  there and announced WiMax trials in the country.

In addition to semiconductor manufacturing, the Brazilian government is sponsoring the creation of a cluster of semiconductor design houses that will feed Brazilian and other worldwide fabs. The "Eldorado" project aims to attract foreign semiconductor design companies to Brazil while creating indigenous Brazilian design companies.

"Brazil is already a major maker and exporter of advanced high-technology products such as aircraft, consumer electronics, and cell phones and is making the necessary infrastructure and industrial investment to step onto the world stage in semiconductor manufacturing and design,“ Wolfgang Sauer, the CEO and co-founder of CBS and special advisor on industrialization to various South American governments, said in a statement. “The technological park in Minas Gerais, and CBS in particular, are clear indicators of Brazil's direction and commitment.

He continued: “For strategic reasons many companies want to have semiconductor manufacturing located in multiple economic and geographic zones. A Brazilian semiconductor industry offers a real alternative to the concentration of semiconductor manufacturing in Asia."