Alpha Industries Announces Fab Equipment Upgrade
New Stepper Increases Capacity, Second Stepper Next Month Major Milestone for 6 Inch Wafer Fab Conversion
Woburn, MA. Alpha Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:AHAA) announced today that its new high-throughput, i-line stepper is now being used in full production, supporting Alpha s program to increase capacity and reduce costs.
"This stepper, an ASML PAS 5500/100, is the state of the art in high performance/volume semiconductor manufacturing," stated Bruce Nonnemaker, Alpha s Vice President of Operations. "It has expanded our capacity and added the ability to produce sub-half micron RF ICs in high-volume production. We will receive a second ASML 5500/100 stepper in January 2000, adding even more capacity.
"In September 1999, we completed a fab expansion that doubled our capacity. These new steppers are a portion of the equipment that we are adding to double our capacity again by the summer of 2000. After that, we plan to more than double our capacity yet again by converting from four inch to six inch GaAs wafers.
"With this new equipment fully operational, more than 90% of our manufacturing capacity is six inch compatible, making the six inch conversion relatively quick, seamless and inexpensive. We will make the conversion when production volumes make it the most cost-effective way to add capacity. As the demand for our GaAs RF IC products continues to grow, we will increase our capacity to support our customers and expand our market share."
Alpha Industries designs and manufactures a broad range of products for microwave and radio frequency wireless communications applications. The Wireless Semiconductor segment provides gallium arsenide (GaAs) integrated circuits and other semiconductors to the dynamic global market for wireless telephone handsets. The Application Specific Products (ASP) segment provides a broad range of GaAs and silicon devices to satellite, instrumentation, defense and other communications markets. The Ceramic Products segment provides technical ceramic products for wireless telephony infrastructure and other wireless markets. Additional information about us and our products is available at Alpha s website - www.alphaind.com.
Safe Harbor Statement - Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that constitute the Company s current intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectation or predictions of the future which are, therefore, inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the Company s forward-looking statements based on various factors, including without limitation: cancellation or deferral of customer orders, dependence on a small number of large customers, difficulties in the timely development and market acceptance of new products, market developments that vary from the current public expectations concerning the growth of wireless communications, difficulties in manufacturing new or existing products in sufficient quantity or quality, increased competitive pressures, decreasing selling prices for the Company s products, or changes in economic conditions. Further information on factors that could affect the Company s performance is included in the Company s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including but not limited to the Company s Form 10-K for the year ended March 28, 1999, and subsequent Forms 10-Q. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstance on which any such statement is based.
Contact: Alpha Industries, Inc. Jim Nemiah, Corporate Communications; Tel: 617/824-4426
Alpha Industries,
Inc. Jim Nemiah, Corporate Communications; Tel: 617/824-4426
Web site: http://www.alphaind.com
