(Yicai Global) March 5 -- GalaxyCore Hong Kong, a maker and distributor of fabless electronic components, plans to invest USD2.2 billion in a project to research, develop and produce special integrated circuits for contact image sensors in the new area of Shanghai's free trade zone.

GalaxyCore and the management committee of Lingang New Area penned an agreement on the project today. It will start mid-year and the first phase will complete in 2021.

The deal represents another substantial project for Lingang after a major venture worth CNY20 billion (USD2.9 billion) agreed on Feb. 13 to settle in the area, which was added to the FTZ with much fanfare last August.

GalaxyCore's project will extend its own industry chain and improve its competitiveness as well as help Lingang to perfect its IC industrial ecology and boost the industrial cluster turning out chips and related materials, The Paper said.

The report did not provide more details about GalaxyCore Hong Kong, but GalaxyCore Shanghai's website says that the company is its shareholder. Founded in 2003, GalaxyCore Shanghai is China's leading image sensor chip design company, targeting the global mobile device and consumer electronics markets.

Editor: Peter Thomas