Bookham dumps GaAs production at Caswell
Bookham spokesperson, Joanne Bradbeer said that the decision will leave the company with “no GaAs at all”, although Bookham will still have its three inch InP line.
The move forms part of a cost-cutting strategy announced earlier this year. Although the six inch line had not lost any major customers, explained Bradbeer, order visibility was poor.
The line had only two customers, she added. Bookham expects to make a significant saving from the line closure, but has not disclosed figures.
The six inch line was used for growth of pHEMT and MESFET products, which were transferred from the three inch GaAs facility. Bookham is currently talking with its customers about their last billed orders, but it is not able to provide a date for the last production on its GaAs line.
Bradbeer added that JCA Bookham, the subsidiary that makes GaAs-based RF microwave amplifier products used in defense applications, was not a significant customer. JCA Bookham was formed in March 2004 when Bookham acquired New Focus, and its subsidiary, JCA Technology.
The GaAs facility at Caswell was upgraded for six inch manufacture in 2000 when owned by Marconi. Work on GaAs at Caswell goes back to 1962, and the site produced the worlds first GaAs FET in 1970, followed by the first published GaAs FET-based MMIC.
“It’s very sad that the GaAs facility at Caswell has ended like this,” commented Liam Devlin, director of RF Integration, at electronics design house and consultancy firm Plextek. He expects Bookham to now concentrate on their optoelectronics market.
However, sympathetic though Devlin was, he didn’t believe Bookham had handled the situation well, stating that: “It wasn’t very courteous to customers offering them two weeks to do a last time buy.”
