Soitec of Bernin, France, which makes engineered substrates including silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and III-V epiwafers, has announced the sale of the gallium arsenide (GaAs) epitaxy business of its Soitec Specialty Electronics subsidiary (based at Villejust in Essonne, France) to Intelligent Epitaxy Technology Inc (IntelliEPI) of Richardson, TX, USA.
Founded in 1999, IntelliEPI uses proprietary real-time in-situ growth monitoring technology on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to manufacture indium phosphide (InP), gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium antimonide (GaSb) epiwafers for microelectronics and optoelectronics applications.
The deal follows a collaborative agreement between Soitec and IntelliEPI in December 2013 to serve the GaAs market, which involved a technology license granted by Soitec to IntelliEPI (including the prospect of a future equipment transfer).
"The transaction will enable IntelliEPI to widen its customer base and penetrate to several critical GaAs application markets such as automotive radar technology,” says IntelliEPI’s president & CEO Yung-Chung Kao. “It will also enable IntelliEPI to provide best-valued products and services to all its customers with expanded manufacturing capacities from its Texas, USA location,” he adds.
"The sale of our GaAs epitaxy business to IntelliEPI reflects our drive to refocus Soitec’s electronics division on its key products under its five-year Soitec 2015 program,” explains Bernard Aspar, senior VP and general manager of Soitec’s Communication & Power business unit.
