Soitec Reports high growth in Q1 2006-2007
300-mm SOI Wafer Adoption Continues to Drive Record Sales
SOI wafer sales were 82.2 million Euros for the quarter, a year-on-year growth of 67.0%, or 62.8% at constant exchange rates. This performance was predominately driven by very strong 300-mm volumes showing sales growth of 109.6% over the previous year and representing 67% of total wafer sales. Other wafer sizes, notably 200-mm, also provided robust growth of 17.7%. These trends continue to validate Soitec's strategic investments in production capacity to meet rising demand-as evidenced by the installation of two more 300-mm lines earlier this year.
Picogiga sales and licensing revenues complete the Group's total consolidated sales. Picogiga's traditional market for RF applications contributed to sales growth with a very strong year-on-year increase of 110.6% to 2.7 million Euros. Licensing revenues were stable at 0.8 million Euros for the quarter.
SOI demand continues to gain momentum across the semiconductor industry for high-performance, low-power advanced microprocessors, as well as with foundries for new applications such as game consoles and media rich content products for both the business computing and the mass consumer markets. The Group is confident of outperforming forecasted market growth and confirms its guidance for full year consolidated sales to be about 400 million Euros at the current exchange rates. This anticipated sales growth is supported by the renewal of contractual commitments with its major customers and will be accompanied by an improvement to the Group's income resulting from operating leverage.
Soitec has recently reported that in order to support Grenoble-based TraciT Technologies and increase production capacity, the company has purchased 1,300 square meters of equipped clean room space located adjacent to Soitec's Bernin facility. This also provides facilities for the strategic R&D investment project NanoSmart, a partnership between Soitec and CEA Leti.
Following the strategic announcement and capital increase in March, the Group announced the selection of an industrial site in Singapore as the location for its future 300-mm SOI wafer fab. The timing of the construction is as previously announced, with production planned to start in mid-2008 and full capacity expected to be one million wafer starts per year.
