Commitments (Text Block)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Commitments [Abstract]

Commitments [Text Block]

NOTE 16 –COMMITMENTS

Operating leases–The Company leases offices, manufacturing plants and warehouses under operating lease agreements expiring through December 2015. Rental expense amounted to approximately $6million for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Future minimum lease payments under non-cancelable operating leases at December 31, 2011 are:

2012	$	5,487
2013		4,307
2014		997
2015		208
2016 and thereafter		180
	$	11,179

Purchase commitments – The Company has entered into non-cancelable purchase contracts for capital expenditures, primarily for manufacturing equipment in China, for approximately $16 million at December 31, 2011.

Other commitments –During 2010, The Company announced an investment agreement with the Management Committee of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (the “CDHT”). Under this agreement, The Company has agreed to form a joint venture with a Chinese partner, Chengdu Ya Guang Electronic Company Limited, to establish a semiconductor manufacturing facility for surface mount component production, assembly and test in Chengdu, China. The Company initially will own at least 95% of the joint venture. The manufacturing facility will be developed in phases over a ten year period, and the Company expects to contribute at least $48 million to the joint venture in installments during the first three years. The CDHT will grant the joint venture a fifty year land lease, provides temporary facilities for up to three years at a subsidized rent while the joint venture builds the manufacturing facility and provides corporate and employee tax incentives, tax refunds, subsidies and other financial support to the joint venture and its qualified employees. If the joint venture fails to achieve specified levels of investment, the investment agreement allows for a renegotiation as well as the option to repay a portion of such financial support. This is a long-term, multi-year project that will provide additional capacity for the Company has needed. As of December 31, 2011, the Company has invested approximately $25 million of which $18 million were for capital expenditures.