France's SOITEC adds capacity for up to 2 million SOI wafers per year
Company claims to be first silicon-on-insulator supplier to post full-year profit
Semiconductor Business News
(07/06/01 12:19 p.m. EST)
BERNIN, France -- Silicon-On-Insulator Technologies (SOITEC) expects to complete construction of its second SOI wafer factory here next summer, eventually giving it additional capacity to produce up to 1.2 million eight-inch (200-mm) equivalent substrates per year.
Nine-year-old SOITEC also expects to have its existing plant operating at full capacity by March 2002, with the ability to produce up to 800,000 wafers a year. The new SOI plant will be larger than the first facility, with about 25,000 square feet of space. The Bernin 2 facility will house a Class 1 cleanroom for production of 200- and 300-mm SOI wafers using SOITEC's Smart Cut process.
SOITEC officials believe the company became the first industry's silicon-on-insulator substrate supplier to record a full-year profit when it recently posted a net income of 4.1 million euros ($3.4 million) on revenues of 43.3 million euros ($36.4 million) for the fiscal year, ended March 31. In fiscal 2000, SOITEC had a net loss of $7.9 million euros ($6.6 million) on revenues of 16.3 million euros ($13.7 million).
"We are well positioned to respond to the continued steady demand coming from high-end semiconductor products--demand that remains solid even in the current semiconductor climate--and we anticipate maintaining a strong growth rate over the coming years," said André Auberton-Hervé, president of SOITEC. "For the coming fiscal year, our objectivesare to sustain our sales growth, continue to grow profitability and maintain a positive cash flow," he said in a statement issued with the fiscal 2001 results. |
