MEMSIC Boosts Production Capacity
boston.internet.com
September 24, 2002
By Colin C. Haley
MEMSIC, a North Andover, Mass., maker of specialized semiconductors, has raised $1.9 million in third-round financing and believes its technology will trump the industry slump.
The company focuses on MEMS (Micro Electric Mechanical Systems) ICs (Integrated Circuits). Its products combine motion and position sensors, called accelerometers, with electronics on a single chip -- an advancement that improves performance and reliability at a reduced cost.
Its customers are in four primary sectors: automotive (for safety, navigation, alarm systems); consumer electronics (global positioning systems, cell phones and personal digital assistants PDAs, computer joysticks); industrial (seismic sensors, elevators, forklifts) and medical (blood pressure monitor, surgical bed inclination, patient fall monitors).
The new backing, from unnamed investors in Asia, will allow the company to ramp up production at its factory in Wiuxi, China.
Phil LeClare, a MEMSIC spokesman, told boston.internet.comwindfall will also help it focus on emerging markets, specifically wireless devices including cell phones, wireless GPS and PDAs.
MEMSIC's previous round was led by Celtic House and included funds from Ironside Ventures, Still River Fund and Investar. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is also a financial supporter.
The semiconductor industry is in the depths of a two-year downturn. Chip makers, and those who supply them with hardware and software for their factories, have been scaling back as end users delay purchases of PCs, servers, laptops, cell phones and PDAs.
One of the few markets the industry is still bullish on is China. Companies such as Beverly, Mass.-based establishing manufacturing and sales centers, forging research and development partnership with local universities, and making acquisitions in the populous country. Industry forecasts call for China to become the second largest market for consumer chips by 2010.
As for the moribund industry, LeClare said MEMSIC must be optimistic.
We're hopeful it has bottomed and is going to turn," he said. |
