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SINGAPORE : Nasdaq-listed FormFactor has opened a new facility in Singapore, as part of efforts to grow its business in Asia.
The company is the market leader in wafer probe cards, which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to test their chips.
FormFactor has invested US$25 million in the new plant.
This is a much smaller investment than originally planned, but the company said it is still optimistic about its growth prospects.
With chip sales seeing a sharp rebound in recent months FormFactor is hoping to tap into the growth.
Its new multi-million dollar facility in Singapore will produce wafer probe cards that fit on top of the chip wafer and make contact with the electronic circuits to test the chips before they are sent to customers.
The new 45,000-square foot centre will employ 300 staff over the next two years and cater to customers in Asia, which account for 70 per cent of FormFactor's revenues.
Mario Ruscev, CEO, FormFactor, said: "This facility will have two major roles. The first will be global support for all activity in Asia, design, financial support. The second part is a major step of our manufacturing process, where we put the micro-spring on the ceramic to create a key part of our product, which is the probe head."
FormFactor had originally planned to pump in US$200 million into a new plant in Singapore.
But it chose to downsize the investment because of the downturn in the industry last year.
Still, FormFactor said it plans to expand into new segments and expects its business to grow by 30 per cent per year in the years ahead.
Mr Ruscev said: "As the industry is recovering now, we will see pretty high growth for the next 2-3 years. Not just due to the industry, but also us providing products (and) growing into other markets."
FormFactor has been actively moving into the NAND flash memory chip space, away from its previous focus on DRAM chip companies. - CNA/ms
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