AXT, Inc. Announces Milestone Customer Site Qualification
March 31 2020 - 9:15AM
AXT, Inc. (NasdaqGS: AXTI), a leading manufacturer of compound
semiconductor wafer substrates, today announced that one of its
largest gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafer substrate customers has
formally qualified the company’s new gallium arsenide wafer
processing facilities.
“Among the customers now qualified on the new gallium arsenide
manufacturing line, we are pleased to announce that one of our
largest gallium arsenide customers has qualified our new
manufacturing sites for volume production,” said Morris Young,
chief executive officer. “This Tier-1 customer has among the
highest quality, safety and environmental standards in its
industry. Its confirmation is an important milestone for AXT’s
manufacturing relocation, and will enable us to meaningfully ramp
production from our new locations to meet our customers’ needs over
the coming quarters.”
During the fourth quarter of 2019, AXT transferred its gallium
arsenide crystal growth ingot production to its new manufacturing
facility in Kazuo, a city approximately 250 miles from Beijing.
Wafer processing for gallium arsenide was relocated to its new
manufacturing facility in Dingxing, a city approximately 75 miles
from Beijing. AXT began offering wafers from Dingxing for customer
qualification in 2019, and began customer site qualifications later
that year.
“Our new manufacturing sites are optimized for best-practice
manufacturing techniques, and we have installed state-of-the-art
equipment. Both are designed to meet and exceed the current
rigorous safety and environmental standards in China,” Young
continued. “We now have capacity in place to meet today’s demand
for a wide variety of high-end applications, with ample space to
expand as demand increases and new applications come to market. I
am proud of the teamwork and dedication of our entire AXT team,
making this significant accomplishment possible. We are now well
positioned to push our technology to new levels of performance
required by current emerging applications, and to engage the
marketplace with confidence and enthusiasm.”
AXT began manufacturing its gallium arsenide substrate wafers in
the Tongzhou district of Beijing, China in 2000. In 2015, the
Beijing city government selected Tongzhou for its new municipal
headquarters. Along with many other businesses asked to relocate
their manufacturing lines in order to create room and upgrade the
district, AXT was instructed to relocate its gallium arsenide
manufacturing line.
About AXT, Inc.
AXT is a material science company that develops and manufactures
high-performance compound and single element semiconductor
substrate wafers comprising indium phosphide (InP), gallium
arsenide (GaAs) and germanium (Ge). The company’s
substrate wafers are used when a typical silicon substrate wafer
cannot meet the performance requirements of a semiconductor or
optoelectronic device. End markets include 5G infrastructure,
data center connectivity (silicon photonics), passive optical
networks, LED lighting, lasers, sensors, power amplifiers for
wireless devices and satellite solar cells. AXT’s worldwide
headquarters are in Fremont, California where the company maintains
its sales, administration and customer service
functions. AXT has manufacturing facilities
in China and, as part of its supply chain strategy, has
partial ownership in ten companies in China producing raw
materials. For more information, see AXT’s website
at http://www.axt.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
The foregoing paragraphs contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws,
including, for example, statements regarding the ability to
meaningfully ramp production from our new locations to meet our
customer’s needs over the coming quarters, having capacity and
space that can meet the market demand, our ability to meet and
exceed safety and environmental standards in China and our ability
to push our technology to new levels of performance. These
forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are
subject to uncertainties and factors relating to the company’s
operations and business environment, which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements contained in the foregoing discussion.
These uncertainties and factors include but are not limited to: the
timing and receipt of significant orders; the cancellation of
orders and return of product; emerging applications using chips or
devices fabricated on our substrates; end-user acceptance of
products containing chips or devices fabricated on our substrates;
our ability to bring new products to market; product announcements
by our competitors; the ability to control costs and improve
efficiency; the ability to utilize our manufacturing capacity;
product yields and their impact on gross margins; possible factory
shutdowns as a result of air pollution in China or COVID-19;
tariffs and other trade war issues; the financial performance of
our partially owned supply chain companies; policies and
regulations in China and other factors as set forth in the
company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form
10-Q and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Each of these factors is difficult to predict and many
are beyond the company’s control. The company does not undertake
any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Gary
Fischer
Chief Financial
Officer
(510) 438-4700
Leslie
Green
Green Communications Consulting,
LLC
(650) 312-9060
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