Ams AG
ams AG, formerly known as austriamicrosystems AG and still known as AMS, designs and manufactures sensors for small form factor, low power, highest sensitivity and multi-sensor applications. Products include sensors, sensor ICs, interfaces and related software for mobile, consumer, communications, industrial, medical, and automotive markets.
Headquartered in Austria, ams employs over 9,000 people globally. ams is listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange.
History
1978–2000
decides to expand its product and services range during the late 1970s and chooses the semiconductor industry. Due to voestalpine looking for a joint venture partner the first cooperation with AMI was chosen as headquarters.In 1983 the Austrian chancellor Fred Sinowatz officially opened the 100mm Wafer factory which started its production with 300 employees.
1987 was the year when voestalpine AG took over full ownership. In September of the same year the name was changed from AMI-A to AMS. Furthermore, there were new sales branches established in California and Germany.
In 1991 ams became one of the 25 fastest growing businesses in Europe. ams was chosen to be the "top Fab of 1992".
In June 1993 ams was the first Semiconductor Company in Europe to go public, at the Vienna stock exchange.
ams opened the first sales office in Asia in 1996. In this year the company was also accredited according to the ISO 14001:1996 and EMAS. 1997 AMS achieved first successes in the area of Deep Submicron technologies.
NASAs "Deep Space 2" mission in 1998 took off with 2 chips developed from ams and the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. These chips were designed to manage the power supply of the whole space probe. In the same year the company was accredited according to the American and German Automotive industry, QS 9000 and VDA 6.1 respectively.
2000 ams set the foundation for the new 200mm Wafer factory. With the support of its new private equity shareholder Permira, ams left the Vienna stock exchange the same year. This resulted in a further name change to austriamicrosystems AG.
2001–2010
The new 200mm production line starts its trial run. At the same time a license agreement has been reached between austriamicrosystems AG and TSMC, the largest global IC Foundry. After the successful trial run the new 200mm Wafer factory goes ahead with the mass production in 2002. New sales offices in Singapore were opened in the same year, furthermore an expansion of locations in Hong Kong, Japan and the USA was carried out.Silicon Strategies listed austriamicrosystems as the only European company under the top ten 2003 Foundries worldwide. austriamicrosystems AG decided to continue its policy of expansion with new sales offices in South Korea, China, Finland and Sweden. Additionally, a design center for multimedia playback applications was set up in Bangalore, India.
2004 was the year austriamicrosystems AG found its way back to the stock exchange. Since 17 May that year austriamicrosystems AG is listed on the Swiss Stock exchange, short SIX, in Zürich.
In 2005 the standard products as well as the capacity of the 200mm Wafer factory were expanded to compensate for the shut down of the old 100mm factory which played a main part in the success of austriamicrosystems AG.
In 2006, the year of the 25th anniversary, a new test centre in the Philippines and a new design centre in India were built. The 200mm Wafer factory was also expanded further.
In 2007 austriamicrosystems AG stepped into new business segments in the form of a partnership with the micro motor manufacturer New Scale Technologies. In the same year the new cafeteria & conference centre was built by the architect DI Tinchon.
AG reduced emissions and plans in the mid term to produce CO2-free. Nevertheless, austriamicrosystems AG reached revenues amounting to EUR 209.4 in 2010.
2011–present
In 2011 austriamicrosystems acquired 100% of the shares in Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions, Inc., for about USD 320 million. TAOS works in the area of light sensor technologies.In May 2012 austriamicrosystems rebrands to "ams". The new brand name ams conjoins austriamicrosystems and the brand of TAOS, a supplier of intelligent lights sensors, acquired in 2011. Furthermore, ams AG acquired IDS Microchip AG in the same year.
Since May 13, 2013 Kirk Laney, former CEO of TAOS Inc., took over the interim management of the company after the step down of John Heugle, head of company for 11 years.
In June 2014 ams acquired 100% of shares in AppliedSensor, a maker of solid-state chemical gas sensors.
On June 25, 2014 ams published a statement of a possible merger of equals with Dialog Semiconductor.
In July 2015 ams acquired the advanced CMOS sensor business from NXP.
In November 2015 ams acquired CMOSIS, a supplier of area scan and miniature medical CMOS image sensors.
In June 2016 ams acquired CCMOSS.
In July 2016 ams acquired color and spectral sensing specialist MAZeT.
In October 2016 ams acquired optical packaging firm Heptagon.
In December 2016 ams acquired Incus Laboratories, active in active noise cancellation in headphones and earphones.
In March 2017 ams acquired 100% of the shares in Princeton Optronics, Inc., a provider of Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, in an all-cash transaction. In September 2017, AMS announced that it would be opening site under $200 million plan in Singapore.
In March 2019 ams and Wise Road Capital, a global Private Equity firm focusing on the semiconductor industry and other emerging high-tech industries, create a joint venture to advance the development and sales of environmental, flow and pressure sensor solutions for the global market.
In April 2019 ams share value surged 20% after offering their 3D sensor technology to Android makers, that was once exclusive to their largest client, Apple..
In December 2019 ams successfully closed their acquisition of German lighting, LED, and opto-semiconductor manufacturer, OSRAM.
Managing board
In 2020 the board was composed of:- Alexander Everke
- Ingo Bank
- Thomas Stockmeier
- Mark Hamersma,
Key figure
| year | revenues in EUR m | EBIT adj. in EUR m | number of employees |
| 2007 | 193.9 | 48.6 | 1,071 |
| 2008 | 184.7 | 46.9 | 1,129 |
| 2009 | 137.2 | 2.8 | 1,087 |
| 2010 | 209.4 | 27.1 | 1,119 |
| 2011 | 275.7 | 43.1 | 1,193 |
| 2012 | 387.6 | 84.8 | 1,282 |
| 2013 | 377.8 | 63.9 | 1,394 |
| 2014 | 464.4 | 105.4 | 1,700 |
| 2015 | 623.1 | 147.3 | 2,100 |
| 2016 | 549,9 | 93,3 | 2,175 |
| 2017 | 1,063.8 | 168.7 | 11,000 |
| 2018 | 1,426.3 | 127.6 | 9,884 |
| 2019 | 1,885.3 | 391.7 | 8,609 |
Shareholder structure
ams AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 2004. approx. 92% of the shares are free float, around 8% are held by the management and by other former TAOS shareholders.Business segments
In the segment of Consumer & Communications ams serves the markets of mobile communication and mobile as well as fixed entertainment electronics. Their main focus rests on chip solutions for the power and lighting management. These chips can be found in MP3 players, mobile phones, LCD TVs and xenon or LED camera flashes.In the area of medical and industrial electronics ams provides sensors and sensor interfaces. Their products are known to measure to smallest signals under extreme conditions such as extreme temperature fluctuations, humidity and vibration.
In the field of automotive electronics ams AG supplies solutions which are used in intelligent vehicle access, security and comfort systems. They also supply sensors, sensor interfaces and high speed bus systems.
ams's Foundry is aimed at fabless companies, chip designers and integrated semiconductor providers which don't have their own wafer factory. Hereby the focus lies on analog and mixed signal ICs which often need complex and specialized processes.