CHENNAI: SPEL Semiconductor, India’s first and only integrated circuit assembly & test subcon, has kicked off its expansion plan by launching a new state of the art IC package called leadless molded package. The new package released by Union finance minister P Chidambaram marks the initiation of the project at an investment of $5 million. It is part of the company’s $250 million expansion plan spread over five years. Spel plans to invest another $35 million within the next six months. The expansion plan envisages capacity scale-up from the current 180 million units to 5.6 billion units, starting a second facility in India and a possible overseas acquisition. Spel has also proposed to establish a special economic zone in Tamil Nadu.