ams AG

ams AG, formerly known as austriamicrosystems AG and still known as AMS (Austria Mikro Systeme), is an Austrian electronics company that 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.[4] ams is listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange (ticker symbol: AMS).[5]

ams AG
Public
Traded asSIX: AMS
ISINAT0000A18XM4
IndustrySemiconductors
Founded1981 (as Joint Venture between AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) and voestalpine AG)
Headquarters
Unterpremstätten, Styria
,
Austria
Key people
Alexander Everke (CEO), Ingo Bank (CFO), Thomas Stockmeier (COO), Mark Hamersma (CBO)
ProductsSensors
Sensor ICs
Revenue
  • EUR 1.4 billion (2018)[1]
  • EUR 1.1 billion (2017)[1]
  • EUR 127.6 million (2018)[1]
  • EUR 168.7 million (2017)[2]
  • EUR 93.4 million (2018)[1]
  • EUR 88.7 million (2017)[2]
Total assets
  • EUR 3.6 billion (2018)[1]
  • EUR 3.3 billion (2017)[2]
Total equity
  • EUR 1.3 billion (2018)[1]
  • EUR 828.6 million (2017)[2]
Number of employees
  • 9,000 (2019)[3]
Websiteams.com

History
AMS IC on DataOverVoice (telecommunications)-module

1978–2000

Voestalpine AG 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 (American Microsystems, Inc., later AMI Semiconductor, now part of ON Semiconductor was formed.[6]

In 1981 this joint venture resulted in the American Micro Systems Inc. Austria GmbH. AMI owned 51% and voestalpine AG 49%. The Schloss Premstätten in Unterpremstätten (Styria, Austria) 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 (Austria Mikro Systeme International GmbH). Furthermore, there were new sales branches established in California and Germany.

In 1991 ams became one of the 25 fastest growing businesses in Europe.[7] ams was chosen to be the "top Fab of 1992" (Source: Semiconductor International USA).

In June 1993 ams was the first Semiconductor Company in Europe to go public, at the Vienna stock exchange.[8]

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.[9]

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 (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.), 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.[10] austriamicrosystems AG decided to continue its policy of expansion with new sales offices in South Korea, China (Suzhou), 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.[11]

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 (CCC) was built by the architect DI Tinchon.

AG reduced emissions and plans in the mid term to produce CO2-free.[12] 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., ("TAOS") for about USD 320 million (about EUR 220m).[13] 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.[14] Furthermore, ams AG acquired IDS Microchip AG in the same year.[15]

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.[16]

In June 2014 ams acquired 100% of shares in AppliedSensor, a maker of solid-state chemical gas sensors.[17]

On June 25, 2014 ams published a statement of a possible merger of equals with Dialog Semiconductor.[18]

In July 2015 ams acquired the advanced CMOS sensor business from NXP.[19]

In November 2015 ams acquired CMOSIS, a supplier of area scan and miniature medical CMOS image sensors.[20]

In June 2016 ams acquired CCMOSS.[21]

In July 2016 ams acquired color and spectral sensing specialist MAZeT.[22]

In October 2016 ams acquired optical packaging firm Heptagon.[23]

In December 2016 ams acquired Incus Laboratories, active in active noise cancellation in headphones and earphones.[24]

In March 2017 ams acquired 100% of the shares in Princeton Optronics, Inc., a provider of Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), in an all-cash transaction.[25] In September 2017, AMS announced that it would be opening site under $200 million plan in Singapore.[26]

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 [27].

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.[28].

In December 2019 ams successfully closed their acquisition of German lighting, LED, and opto-semiconductor manufacturer, OSRAM [29].

Managing board

In 2020 the board was composed of:[30]

  • Alexander Everke (CEO since 2016)
  • Ingo Bank (CFO since 2020)
  • Thomas Stockmeier (COO since 2014)
  • Mark Hamersma (Chief Business Development Officer since 2018),[31]

Key figure

financial and employees number of last year.[32]

year revenues in EUR m EBIT adj. in EUR m number of employees
2007193.948.61,071
2008184.746.91,129
2009137.22.81,087
2010209.427.11,119
2011275.743.11,193
2012387.684.81,282
2013377.863.91,394
2014464.4105.41,700
2015623.1147.32,100
2016549,993,32,175
20171,063.8168.711,000
20181,426.3127.69,884
20191,885.3391.78,609

Shareholder structure

ams AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: AMS) since 2004. approx. 92% of the shares are free float, around 8% are held by the management and by other former TAOS shareholders.[33]

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.[34]

Research and development

ams AG consistently invests in research and development. In the year 2016, research and development expenses totaled EUR 138.9m - corresponding to 25% of revenue. On average, the research and development department includes 677 employees.[35]

gollark: The subnet mask is wrong, the DMZ doesn't make sense, ALT DNS isn't a valid IP address, the IPv6 address is also wrong (and a link local one), and the DNS suffix seems wrong given the alleged router vendor.
gollark: Oh, also, religions tend to constrain your actions in vaguely nonsensical ways so that's another cost.
gollark: Great! I am going to sleep maybe eventually.
gollark: 15 minutes per day is quite substantial.
gollark: Opportunity cost. You could do other things, like argue pointlessly on Discord, like I am.

References
  1. ams AG Homepage ams AG Financial information 2017, retrieved via ams AG website on 09 February 2017
  2. ams AG Homepage ams AG Annual Report 2015, retrieved via ams AG website on 26 May 2017
  3. https://ams.com/about-ams ams Key Facts] – website of ams AG, retrieved 9 August 2019
  4. "Investor presentation - Second quarter and first half 2019 results".
  5. "SIX Swiss Exchange".
  6. "Austria Sieve to the East: Austrias Neutrality during the East-West Economic War" by Dr.phil. Oliver Rathkolb, IEHC 2006 SESSION 101: Cold War and Neutrality: East-West Economic Relations in Europe, retrieved on 24 August 2010
  7. Online archive Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®).. Website of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC®), 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 0944, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6218, USA; retrieved 25 June 2014.
  8. History of the Österreichische Industrieholding AG (OIAG) Homepage of the Österreichische Industrieholding AG (OIAG), retrieved on 25 August 2010
  9. Power Microelectronics of NASA's Deep Space 2 probes Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Official Homepage of NASA's Deep Space 2 program, retrieved on 25 August 2010
  10. AMS2000 Project PDF of INTEC Homepage of INTEC Engineering & Consulting GmbH & Co. KG, retrieved on 25 August 2010
  11. austriamicrosystmes share details Swiss Exchange Homepage, retrieved on 25 August 2010
  12. ams Annual Report 2013 Corporate Responsibility, p14. retrieved 3 July 2014
  13. "Austriamicrosystems buys TAOS for $320 million", EETimes Online, Juni 16, 2011
  14. "austriamicrosystems Announces New Company "ams" Brand", Bloomberg, May 16, 2012
  15. "ams announces completion of transaction to acquire the RFID design center IDS". www.ams.com. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  16. "ams CEO John Heugle agrees to step down with immediate effect; Kirk Laney to assume position of CEO". www.ams.com. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  17. "ams enters agreement to acquire private gas sensor specialist AppliedSensor". www.ams.com. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  18. Arash Massoudi und Bryce Elder (25 June 2014). "Dialog and AMS in 'early stage' merger talks". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  19. "ams acquires advanced CMOS sensor business from NXP". www.ams.com. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  20. "ams acquires CMOSIS, a leading supplier of high-end area scan and miniature medical CMOS image sensors". www.ams.com. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  21. "ams acquires CCMOSS to become world leader in gas and infrared sensing". www.ams.com. 16 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  22. "ams acquires color and spectral sensing specialist MAZeT to extend its leadership in advanced optical sensing". www.ams.com. 26 July 2016. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  23. "ams acquires high end optical packaging leader Heptagon to become clear worldwide leader in optical sensing". www.ams.com. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  24. "ams adds to active noise cancellation (ANC) leadership with Incus Laboratories acquisition". www.ams.com. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  25. "ams signs agreement to acquire VCSEL technology leader Princeton Optronics". www.ams.com. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  26. "AMS opens Singapore site under $200 million plan". eeNews Europe. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  27. https://ams.com/-/03-18-2019-ams-wise-road-environmental-sensing-joint-venture
  28. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/30/apple-supplier-ams-surges-20percent-as-it-diversifies-to-android-phones.html
  29. https://www.osram-group.com/en/media/press-releases/pr-2019/06-12-2019
  30. The management – website of ams AG, retrieved 02 February 2016
  31. "ams expands Management Board with Mark Hamersma as Chief Business Development Officer". www.ams.com. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  32. Financial information abgerufen am 09.02.2017
  33. Archived 24 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine ams.com/Investor/Share-Trading-Information, retrieved on July 7, 2014
  34. ft.com/marketsdata Homepage of the Financial Times, retrieved on 24 August 2010
  35. Annual Report 2016 ams AG Website Financial Reports; retrieved 26 May 2017
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