AXT Resumes Substrate Production in Beijing Facility
AXT has resumed wafer processing production of all substrate types, including InP, GaAs and germanium, at its manufacturing facility in Beijing, China, following an electrical fire on March 16, 2017.
As previously reported, the fire caused no damage to InP crystal growth or wafer production. In addition, the company's 6-inch GaAs and germanium crystal growth furnaces were not damaged by the fire, and there is no damage to the electrical supply supporting these 6-inch crystal growth furnaces.
The electrical power supply supporting 2-inch, 3-inch and 4-inch GaAs and germanium crystal growth was damaged. The company's custom-designed furnaces enable it to rotate key furnace hardware between different growth diameters. The company plans to use some of the 6-inch furnace capacity for 2-inch, 3-inch and 4-inch diameter GaAs and germanium crystal growth production.
In addition to rotating diameter sizes, the company has sufficient redundancy in furnaces and plans to move furnaces within the plant to an area designated for crystal growth expansion.
Power can then be connected and the company can restore the smaller diameter crystals to full production.â•© The company believes it can return to full production during the second quarter.
Further, to meet immediate customer demand, staged inventory of smaller diameter crystalline ingots will be moved to wafer processing.
AXT's wafer processing production area, including its clean room, is housed in a facility across the street from the building in which the electrical short circuit fire occurred, and was not affected by this event.
Further, as it previously announced, no structural damage occurred to the building in which the fire took place.
"I am thankful that no injuries occurred and that the damage to our facilities was considerably less than we initially believed," said Morris Young, chief executive officer. "Further, I am grateful to local authorities for their timely response and assistance. We remain convinced about our business opportunities and are deeply committed to supporting the requirements of our customers through this process."
