SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) ? Marvell Technology Group Ltd., which makes semiconductors used in Nokia Oyj?s mobile phones, plans to invest S$100 million ($63 million) in Singapore and raise the number of employees on the island to 500 in the next five years to expand its chip design and testing operations.

The investment will also be used to expand its Asian headquarters in Singapore, Marvell, which operates out of Santa Clara, California, said yesterday. The chipmaker at present has 200 employees in the city-state.

?Asia will be where the growth is for electronics such as low-cost mobile phones,? Sehat Sutardja, Marvell?s chief executive officer, said at a briefing. The company wants ?to prepare for the next phase of growth?.

Singapore is offering incentives including tax breaks to attract international companies such as Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to set up factories in the city. Electronics account for about 36 percent of Singapore?s manufacturing.

Marvell also makes semiconductors used in Apple Computer Inc.?s video iPod players, Sony Corp.?s PlayStation Portable machines and Hewlett-Packard Co.?s notebook computers. Bermuda-based Marvell employs more than 3,400 workers.

Marvell on June 27 agreed to buy Intel Corp.?s unit that builds chips for the BlackBerry, Treo and Q handheld devices for $600 million. The purchase of the unit, which employs about 1,400 people and has about $100 million in quarterly sales, will cut Marvell?s profit as much as 10 percent before the end of fiscal 2008, it said. The acquired unit will add to profit after that, Marvell chief financial officer George Hervey said at the time.

Shares of Marvell have fallen 34 percent this year, compared with a 14 percent decline on the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.