Flags were waved, glasses raised and happy tears of reminiscence were shed at our Chandler, AZ site over the past weeks. It’s not every day that a global semiconductor giant gets to celebrate three decades of greatness.
The party in late June marked the anniversary of the first silicon that shipped from NXP’s Chandler Fab back in 1994. Senior NXP figures were joined by local dignitaries from the City of Chandler including Council Member Christine Ellis and Vice Mayor OD Harris.
"We invite the entire city to congratulate NXP for their 30 years of semiconductor wafer manufacturing in Chandler. We look forward to our continued partnership as they enable a better, safer, more secure, and more sustainable world through innovation."
Chandler Vice Mayor OD Harris
For Geno Fallico, VP Chandler Manufacturing Operations, this milestone served as further proof that the Chandler team is a world-class collaborative force. “I am so honored to be part of this amazing NXP team,” he said at the lively event, which brought together employees from every decade of the site’s operations. “I am delighted and appreciative of the outstanding partnership between NXP and the City of Chandler, who joined our celebrations today.”
NXP’s Chandler Fab has expanded steadily since its first establishment and now occupies an impressive 80-acre site, with a total manufacturing space of 200,000 sq. ft. (18,600 sq. m). Today, some 750 employees keep the fab running smoothly.
Chandler is now home to two of NXP’s five front-end fabs, delivering some of our most important products and technologies. As well as the Chandler Fab, we also have the world’s most advanced RF Gallium Nitride (GaN) fab, the ECHO fab, opened in 2020.
30 Years Chandler: Absolutely Fab. Watch the video to relive the celebration .
Chandler is known by customers and colleagues alike as the source of automotive-quality (a high benchmark of quality) output. It was here that the drive to establish a company-wide quality assurance program first began. Now known as the Total Quality Program, it began life as ‘The NXP Way,’ the assurance that high quality levels are a given, just how we do things … the NXP Way. And in a stroke of coincidence we were delighted to hear from the City of Chandler that a local byway will carry our name, making our mark and showing the way… you guessed it: NXP Way.
“It meant a great deal for employees to receive such a heartfelt and thoughtful gift from the City of Chandler,” said Geno. “We thank you for your gift and your continued support.” Now, thanks to the “NXP Way”, everyone in the city looking for quality will find that their path leads to NXP.
"I want to thank the City of Chander, the entire Chandler community and most of all, our employees here who have contributed to the continued innovation and success coming from this site for the past 30 years."
Geno Fallico, VP Chandler Man. Ops.
Some 200 employees on site have been with the company since the very beginning of our Chandler Fab operations began 30 years ago. As Geno remarked at the party, “there must be something pretty special here that keeps people around for so long”
Greg Blazek, Equipment Engineer, is one of the original team at Chandler Fab, with this year marking his last with the company, as he takes a well-earned last walk along the NXP Way. “I’m retiring this year”, he announced at the celebration. “After 43 years at the same site, it’s time to go. I’ve enjoyed the job, the opportunities and the people tremendously. I’m going to miss the challenges, the encouragement, the work, but most of all, I’m going to miss the people here at Chandler Fab.
Kumar Karuppana is the Director of Process Engineering for Chandler Fab at NXP Semiconductors. A veteran of the electronics and semiconductor industry with more than 27 years experience leading strategy, quality, delivery and cost improvements for semiconductor manufacturing processes. Kumar graduated from Cornell University and holds an MBA from St. Edwards University.