Akoustis® Technologies Taps Co-Founder and Former CEO of Sawtek Inc. to Join its Board of Directors
July 20 2017 - 7:15AM
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 the appointment of Steve Miller
as an independent member of its Board of Directors. His
addition brings the total number of directors to seven.
Mr. Miller, age 69, is widely considered to be a pioneer in the
RF filter industry, having co-founded Sawtek Inc. in 1979. Sawtek
designed and manufactured surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters that
were primarily used in defense systems, cable television hardware
and later in cellular base stations and smartphones. Mr. Miller
served as Sawtek’s President and later as the CEO and Chairman for
a total of 22 years and grew Sawtek into a leading independent
supplier of SAW devices. Sawtek was acquired in 2001 by TriQuint
Semiconductors for approximately $1.3 Billion, where Steve
subsequently served on the TriQuint board through 2003. In January
2015, TriQuint and RF Micro Devices combined in a merger of equals
creating the existing company, Qorvo, Inc. (Nasdaq: QRVO). Prior to
founding Sawtek, Steve worked at Texas Instruments where he
developed surface acoustic wave devices for military and space
applications.
“We are thrilled to have Steve join the Board”, said Jerry Neal,
Co-Chairman of Akoustis. Mr. Neal continued, “Steve is a
tough-minded executive who knows what it takes to develop and grow
an RF filter business from inception to a value of over $1 Billion.
His technology and industry insight, business experience and
guidance will be a valuable addition to the Akoustis Board.”
Mr. Miller commented, “I am pleased to have an opportunity to
assist Akoustis in growing the company into a BAW filter market
leader and executing a strategy that creates long-term value for
shareholders.”
Akoustis is pioneering next-generation material science to
address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting
higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output
power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed
today. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances
of high-purity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the
resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material
properties drive electro-mechanical coupling, which translates to
wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by
leveraging the Company’s high-sound velocity, single-crystal
piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric
materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the path of heat
flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter
solutions company that designs and 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. The
Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001 certified
commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY,
which includes a state-of-the-art class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom
facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter - for the design,
development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and
semiconductor devices. Akoustis is headquartered in the Piedmont
technology corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh, North
Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of
historical facts are forward-looking statements, which 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 acquisition of STC-MEMS could disrupt our business, may not
be successfully integrated, and we may not be able to operate it
profitably or realize the benefits of the acquired business within
expected timeframes or at all;
- our ongoing attempts to transfer the Trusted Foundry
accreditation from STC-MEMS to Akoustis may be delayed for various
reasons or may never occur;
- 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 704-997-5735, ext. 106
daichele@akoustis.com INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com
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