So says John Cummins, vice-president of the company's China region.

The firm expects to pay more attention to China following the appointment of a new CEO, Richard Clemmer.

Earlier this week it announced establishment of a 'Storage R&D Design Center' in Shanghai.

It will focus on developing silicon and firmware for hard disk drives (HDDs) which can be used in a wide range of storage applications, including desktop and notebook PCs and consumer electronics.

"The move serves to strengthen our semiconductor R&D and design capabilities in Asia and extend Agere's relationship with customers in the region," said Cummins.

"Four of the top six hard disk drive suppliers are Asia-based," Cummins said. "With this new design center, Agere can more closely collaborate with them on delivering high-capacity disk drives that meet a wide variety of size, performance and cost needs."

Agere has been an industry leader for more than a decade. It provides advanced integrated circuit products that access, move, and store network information, supplying chips for cell phones, hard-disk drives and telecommunications equipment.

Analysts said Agere's move is motivated by the big and rapidly developing integrated circuit (IC) and semiconductor market in China.

The sector is regarded as one of the pillar new industries in China, which gets a lot of support from the government.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the leading global provider of market intelligence, China is expected to account for 20 percent of the world's IC products consumption in 2005, which are widely used in household appliances and other high-tech products.

The growth of Chinese IC production is expected to peak at US$ 14.5 billion in 2010.

"That will be a good opportunity for chipmakers like Agere," said Sun Xia, an expert from the Shanghai-based Nova Consulting Firm.

(China Daily November 3, 2005)