Picogiga sales rocket as Soitec grows fast
Picogiga, the French company that specializes in GaN-on-silicon material, is on track to double its annual sales.
According to its parent company Soitec, which supplies silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, in the nine months of the current fiscal year, Picogiga's sales have grown by 76.5%.
Already spectacular, that growth should increase over the next quarter, says Soitec, with the full-year Picogiga revenue for 2005-2006 set to be double the 2004-2005 figure.
In the most recent quarter Picogiga's sales surged to € 2.6 million ($3.1 million).
Meanwhile, the parent company is enjoying similar success, saying that the "era of the SOI wafer has arrived".
That appears to be the case: in a red-hot market, Soitec has increased its financial guidance on three occasions in the last year.
Total sales at Soitec more than doubled from last year to reach € 70.9 million in the most recent quarter, prompting the third guidance notice.
Silicon giant AMD has signed a whopping $150 million contract with Soitec for calendar 2006. The two companies agreed a long-term deal in 2005 under which Soitec is supplying both 200 mm and 300 mm wafers manufactured using the so-called "Smart Cut" process.
Picogiga has also developed this process for GaN material (see related story), while Soitec is working on strained-silicon epiwafers and germanium-on-insulator technology.
