News Article
Polymatech and ECM forge wafer partnership
New venture will specialise in producing sapphire ingots and wafers
Polymatech (a semiconductor company with facilities in India, the US and Bahrain) and ECM Group (a French industrial firm) have announced plans to establish a joint venture company in Grenoble, France, producing sapphire ingots and wafers.
"The Joint Venture complements Polymatech's forward integration plans making Polymatech an end-to-end semiconductor company," said Tarja Hannele Rapala Virtanen, director, Polymatech Electronics. "The uninterrupted and high-quality electricity produced by nuclear electricity and Alps water gives us perfect quality ingots."
The venture marks Polymatech's first manufacturing presence in Europe. By shifting wafer fabrication to the new Grenoble facility, Polymatech says it can focus on unlocking and redeploying high-end packaging capabilities at its Chennai plant.
Polymatech and ECM Group will make an initial joint investment of €100 million, with Polymatech holding the majority stake. This follows Polymatech's earlier investment of $30 million in wafer development.
"The agreement with ECM Group provides us with additional flexibility to execute our strategy as we invest in creating the world's most resilient and sustainable semiconductor supply chain," said Eswara Rao Nandam, CEO of Polymatech.
"Our investments in cutting-edge manufacturing capacity in both the US and Europe are vital to meet the rising demand for sapphire, silicon, and SiC materials, as the global semiconductor market is expected to double in size over the next five years. This joint venture allows us to partner with a renowned technology leader on favourable terms while maintaining our strong investment-grade credit rating."
Laurent Pélissier, founding president and CEO of ECM Group, added, "This joint venture highlights ECM Group's expertise in innovating and delivering state-of-the-art crystal growth equipment for high-quality semiconductor wafer production. It also emphasises our role as a trusted partner with 50 years of experience, supporting the development of the new economy, including next-generation AI technologies, which will require significant investments in sustainable power generation, data centres, foundries, and semiconductor capabilities."
"France has demonstrated significant appeal to foreign investors in recent years, thanks to its skilled workforce, stable legal and regulatory environment, robust infrastructure, and strong innovation support under the France 2030 initiative," said Anis Jouini, General Manager of ECM Greentech.
"ECM Group, through its subsidiary ECM Greentech, will supply the furnaces, leveraging advanced sapphire crystal growth processes. ECM Greentech will collaborate with key partners to establish a complete production line, from ingot creation to finalised wafers or specific samples.
Production at the joint venture is slated to begin in January 2026, with an annual wafer capacity of 500,000 units.
