MEMS foundry APM to up capacity

TAIPEI: Sources at MEMS say that their foundry - Asia Pacific Microsystems (APM) has plans to ramp its capacity by 60-70 per cent before mid-2011. They say this move will be backed by a budget of NT$200 million (US$6.27 million).

The sources say that more MEMS IDMs have outsourced orders to dedicated foundries and APM is one of the beneficiaries of this development. APM has been seeing a rise in demand for MEMS sensors of late, which are used in print-heads and car electronics. The sources say that the increased orders have filled the foundry’s capacity. Also, as a result of some auto MEMS suppliers cutting down their production scale, APM expects that sales from the automotive sector will double in 2011.

APM is also looking to provide its foundry services for niche MEMS products that are used for LED substrates, optical sensors and medical applications, say the sources. It was also confirmed that the company, which runs a 6-inch wafer plant, has no plans to construct 8-inch production lines at this point of time.