- Acquisition Includes
150-mm Wafer Manufacturing Tools, 57-acres of Real Property
and MEMS Business with $3M/year in Annual Revenue -
Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKTS)
(“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented
single-crystal BulkONE® bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF
filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced
today it has entered into binding, definitive agreements to
acquire assets from the Research Foundation for the State
University of New York (RF-SUNY) and Fuller Road Management
Corporation (FRMC), an affiliate of RF-SUNY. The assets being
acquired include STC-MEMS, a semiconductor wafer manufacturing
operation and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) business with
associated wafer production tools, as well as real estate
associated with the facility located in Canandaigua, New York.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad83e0a5-33ef-41fa-889f-a6948f1ac11ahttp://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7f63411d-4f22-44a4-8508-5da81f46632f
Under the terms of the agreements, Akoustis will
pay $2.75 million in cash at closing to RF-SUNY and FRMC, subject
to certain adjustments and customary closing conditions. The
transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of
calendar year 2017. As part of the signed definitive agreements,
Akoustis plans to acquire all of the following:
- 120,000 sq. ft. commercial wafer manufacturing facility located
in Canandaigua, NY, which includes Class 100/Class 1000 cleanroom
space (“NY Facility”).
- 57-acres of real property associated with the NY Facility.
- 150-mm silicon MEMS wafer fab operations, including all
semiconductor manufacturing tools.
- Existing silicon-based MEMS business with annual revenues of
approximately $3M from multiple customers, including a tier-1
mobile wireless solutions OEM.
- Trusted Foundry accreditation for MEMS processing, packaging
and assembly.
- Two existing tenants with multi-year leases.
Dr. Art Geiss, Co-Chairman of Akoustis, said,
“Akoustis will merge its patented BulkOne® BAW RF filter process
into the STC-MEMS foundry, an operating silicon-wafer-based MEMs
manufacturer. Since there is significant overlap between the
tools and processes used to produce our BAW devices and
silicon-based MEMS, transferring our process into the STC-MEMS
foundry will accelerate the technology into production. In
addition, we believe that some of the foundry processes used in
silicon-based MEMS manufacturing may be utilized in new ways to
make further performance improvements in Akoustis’ single-crystal
BAW RF filters.”
Jerry Neal, Co-Chairman of Akoustis, added,
“This acquisition is an enormous win for Akoustis and is consistent
with our capital-efficient business model. A comparable
manufacturing facility to build and qualify for production would
take up to 2-years and cost well over $50 million, not to mention
the challenges of recruiting and training qualified personnel.”
The transaction allows Akoustis to internalize
manufacturing providing substantial capacity and control of its
wafer supply chain for single crystal BAW RF filters. Akoustis
plans to utilize the NY Facility to consolidate all aspects of
wafer manufacturing for its disruptive and patented high-band RF
filters targeting the multi-billion mobile and other wireless
markets. This planned consolidation of the Company’s supply chain
into the NY Facility is expected to shorten time-to-market for its
RF products, greatly enhancing the Company’s ability to service
customers. Shorter time-to-market cycles provide the Company the
opportunity to increase the number of customer engagements.
Empire State Development President, CEO &
Commissioner Howard Zemsky said, “When combined with its
skilled workforce, the Finger Lakes region’s burgeoning R&D and
advanced manufacturing industry cluster create the perfect
environment for innovative companies like Akoustis to grow and
thrive. The addition of new research and manufacturing jobs in
Canandaigua will diversify and strengthen the local economy and
help to ensure the region continues moving in the right
direction.”
Jeff Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, commented, “We
look forward to welcoming the dedicated professionals at STC-MEMS
into the Akoustis family, and thank Governor Cuomo and his entire
organization for their tireless efforts attracting Akoustis to New
York State."
Akoustis plans to maintain the existing customer
engagements which are transferred as part of the transaction.
The Company plans to maintain the existing Trusted Foundry
accreditation for MEMS processing, packaging and module assembly
and will seek to expand the accreditation for the NY facility to
include BAW RF filters and sensors.
About Akoustis Technologies,
Inc.Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF
filter solutions company that manufactures its unique, patented
BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave
(BAW) RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which
facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance
between the antenna and digital back end. Its BulkONE®
technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar
market of device OEMs, network providers, and consumers to diminish
Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all
considered to be directly related to current RF polycrystalline
filter technologies' limitations. Akoustis’ capital-efficient
business model leverages new and existing investments in
manufacturing infrastructure within the semiconductor industry.
Akoustis® is located in the Piedmont technology corridor
between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.
About STC-MEMSSmart Systems
Technology & Commercialization Center (STC-MEMS) was created in
2010 to form a vertically integrated “one-stop-shop” and positioned
as a leader in smart system and smart-device innovation and
manufacturing. Such capabilities provide its customers the
capacity, infrastructure and operational capabilities in all areas
of semiconductor and advanced manufacturing, while covering a
diverse number of markets including aerospace, biomedical,
communications, defense, and energy. Located just outside of
Rochester, New York, STC-MEMS’s state-of-the-art facility includes
certified cleanroom manufacturing, advanced test and metrology,
which is complemented by a MEMS and optoelectronic packaging
facility. STC-MEMS’s experienced team is focused on meeting
customer demands for timely and high-quality production of MEMS
solutions. STC-MEMS operates an ISO-9001 Quality Management
System certified for the design, development, fabrication and
packaging of MEMS and semiconductor devices.
About Trusted FoundryThe
Trusted Foundry Program was initiated in 2004 to ensure
mission-critical national defense systems have access to
leading-edge integrated circuits (ICs) from secure, domestic
sources. Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) is the program
manager for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the program
provides a cost-effective means to assure the integrity and
confidentiality of integrated circuits during design and
manufacturing while providing the U.S. Government with access to
leading edge microelectronics technologies for both Trusted and
non-sensitive applications. The program includes foundry
capability plus a full-range of microelectronics services from
design through prototyping, packaging and assembly, photomask
manufacturing and aggregation.
Forward-Looking
StatementsStatements in this press release that are not
descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements
that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions
and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by terminology including
“anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,”
“expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,”
“should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of these terms or other
comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those currently anticipated
include, without limitation,
- risks relating to the results of our research and development
activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor
process manufacturing;
- the early stage of our BulkONE® technology presently under
development;
- our need for substantial additional funds in order to continue
our operations and the uncertainty of whether we will be able to
obtain the funding we need;
- our ability to retain or hire key scientific, engineering or
management personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual
property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent
and other intellectual property rights;
- our dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers,
research organizations, testing laboratories and other potential
collaborators;
- our ability to successfully market and sell our
technologies;
- the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our
technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any
of our technologies;
- competition in our industry; and
- regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries.
In light of these risks, uncertainties and
assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events
and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur,
and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those
anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You
should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of
future events. The forward-looking statements included in
this presentation speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as
required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or
privately any forward-looking statements for any reason after the
date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual
results or to changes in our expectations. The materials do not
constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of any offer to
buy, any securities of Akoustis, or any other entity
whatsoever. Any representation to the contrary by any party
should be ignored.
Akoustis Contact Information:
COMPANY:
Dave Aichele
Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
VP of Business Development
Main: 704-997-5735, ext. 106
Email: daichele@akoustis.com
INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com
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