Finisar on track to double Texas wafer fab capacity
Finisar, the optical component maker based in Sunnyvale, CA, has posted another profitable quarter, with total sales for fiscal 2006 reaching $364.3 million.
In the latest three-month period, which ended on April 30, revenue from sales of optical components and subsystems rose 9.2 percent sequentially to $91.9 million. Finisar reported a net profit of $1.7 million for the quarter on total sales (including network testing gear) of $102.4 million.
Those sales of components and subsystems represent a 42.5 percent improvement compared with one year ago. "Fiscal 2006 marked an important turning point for our company," said CEO Jerry Rawls. "We worked our way back from one of the most difficult market downturns in history and succeeded in achieving our plan for returning to profitability."
To meet what it expects to be a continued rapid increase in demand for optical components, Rawls says that the company is in the process of doubling its fab capacity in Texas.
Currently based in Richardson, Finisar is switching production to a brand new cleanroom facility in Allen.
"The first reactor is plumbed and wired and doing the first calibration runs," said Rawls. The existing Richardson fab will first be replicated with new equipment in Allen, before the company switches the Richardson setup to the same site - effectively doubling the capacity.
The biggest growth for Finisar has been seen in sales to the local and storage area network sectors, which have grown 41 percent. Sales to metro access applications also rose sharply in the year, and were up 27 percent.
For the entire fiscal 2006, Finisar turned in a net loss of $24.9 million, compared with a deficit of $88.6 million in the previous year.
The company, which has acquired Honeywell's advanced optical components division and much of the fiber-optic business formerly owned by Infineon Technologies over the past couple of years, also operates a chip fab in California.
