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Hynix's Eugene chip factory closed in 2008, costing 1,400 people their jobs. Broadcom says it would employ 229 when it reopens the facility in 2019.

(The Associated Press/file photo)

The new owner of Hynix's defunct memory chip factory in Eugene says it will hire 229 people when it reopens the factory and plans to spend $400 million bringing the 18-year-old facility up to speed.

Communications chip company Avago paid $21 million for the factory last fall. It subsequently bought another chip company, Broadcom, and took Broadcom's name.

Broadcom wants $21 million in enterprise zone tax breaks on its upgrades, which include $300 million in production tools and $100 million in improvements to the factory, which had been closed since 2008.

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Broadcom says the project will generate 700 construction-related jobs, and says it will pay its employees at least $59,000 a year - which amounts to 150 percent of the average annual wage in Lane County.

The 1.2-million-square-foot factory had 1,400 workers when Hynix shuttered it in 2008 amid a downturn in the memory chip market. The facility, which struggled intermittently during the 10 years Hynix operated it, also received enterprise zone tax breaks.

Broadcom has indicated it would make components for mobile phones inside the 1.2-million-square-foot factory. It plans to start construction on the site in June 2017 and begin production in Eugene in September 2019.

The Eugene City Council takes up Broadcom's enterprise zone application at a work session Wednesday.

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway