A Tigard company that supplies gas and chemical equipment to Oregon semiconductor manufacturers plans to quadruple its factory footprint this year by moving to a new site in Sherwood.
The company, NSI, is moving from two buildings with a combined 15,000 square feet of manufacturing to a newly built, 62,000-square foot plant. NSI said the new site will “dramatically increase” its production and enable it to meet rapidly increasing demand.
The company described the expansion as a “multiple million-dollar investment.”
Oregon’s chip industry has expanded substantially over the past two years amid a sharp increase in demand for electronics. The state’s exports grew by 19% last year to more than $30 billion, an increase driven primarily by the sale of Oregon-made semiconductors.
NSI, also known as Nuance Systems, employs 70 people at its Tigard sites. The company said the new Sherwood factory could accommodate 120 workers.
NSI is the second chip industry supplier to expand in Sherwood in the past year. Equipment manufacturer Lam Research opened a factory last year, across the street from NSI’s new site at the corner of Southwest Tualatin-Sherwood Road and Southwest 124th Avenue.
Bruce Coleman, Sherwood’s economic development manager, said another business plans to open an 80,000-square-foot facility in the city, but he declined to identify that business.
“While Sherwood has been known for a long time as a wonderful bedroom community, the city council also sees economic development as one of the top priorities to encourage the growth of tech/advanced manufacturing and other companies,” Coleman wrote in an email. He said he’s not aware of any publicly funded incentives associated with NSI’s expansion.
NSI is owned by the German engineering firm Exyte. It says it has a 10-year lease on the Sherwood site.
— Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
