Wuxi-based semiconductor company GMC Semitech Co signed an agreement to build a new integrated circuits plant in Xishan district on Sept 1.

With a total investment of 1.53 billion yuan ($214.5 million), the project will focus on research and development of 12-inch integrated circuit manufacturing technology and equipment production.

The construction will be divided into two phases to be completed in three to five years, aiming for the completed plant to become an influential semiconductor industry development base nationwide.

Established in 2010, GMC Semitech Co has become the largest remanufacturing equipment supplier in the semiconductor industry and the largest manufacturer of slurry supply systems.

The company was listed among the first batch of high-growth gazelle companies in Wuxi. For investors, gazelles are companies that have increased their revenues by least 20 percent?each year for four years running. The term implies that a company is growing, like a gazelle, by leaps and bounds.

Li Jiang, deputy director of Wuxi Xishan district, said the scale of the electronic information industry has now reached 30 billion yuan in Xishan, where the whole industrial chain is developing.

Xishan district will continue to promote its business environment and services to attract more investment, Li added.