Kulicke & Soffa Industries has expanded its Suzhou, China plant to produce both dicing hub blades and test sockets.

Previously the plant had manufactured just capillary and cantilever probe card product lines; now the plant makes all four product lines. The facility has dedicated more than 20,000 square feet in its existing plant to both of these new product lines, K&S said. It has also invested nearly $8 million in new equipment and technology to expand the facility.

"As our test socket business in Asia continues to grow faster each year, we need to be closer to our main customer base," Oded Lendner, vice president of K&S Package Test Business, said in a statement. "With our total investment in the new test socket manufacturing line in Suzhou, we can exceed the growing local demand in China and the Pacific Rim."

The desire to expand market share and customer satisfaction were the underlying reasons to move K&S' blade manufacturing hub to China, according to Jack Belani, vice president of K&S' marketing and ball bonding.

The K&S Suzhou facility will now have more than 1,000 employees. K&S also plans to strengthen and grow its technical application capabilities and engineering expertise within China.