U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer Toured Akoustis Technologies’ Semiconductor Fab in Upstate New York
- Sen. Schumer Expects Significant Semiconductor Manufacturing Expansion in Upstate New York with the Recently Passed CHIPS and Science Act of 2022
Canandaigua, N.Y., Sept. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer recently toured Akoustis’ semiconductor fab in Upstate New York with Akoustis founder and CEO, Jeff Shealy, Co-Chairman of the Board, Jerry Neal, and Director, Suzanne Rudy.
The recently passed bipartisan Chips and Science Act of 2022 (“CHIPS Act”) legislation was introduced by New York Senator Schumer to boost U.S. competitiveness with foreign competitors, including China, by allocating billions of dollars toward domestic semiconductor manufacturing and science research. Senator Schumer expects the CHIPS Act “will help build more resilient domestic supply chains to help lower costs for families, address inflation, and strengthen national security by manufacturing more microchips in America.”
Akoustis senior management has worked closely with the local, regional, and state government of New York, along with Senator Schumer’s office to support the passage of the Act, which will present a significant opportunity for the revitalization of Upstate New York’s semiconductor presence, and in particular, the greater Rochester area, where Akoustis’ manufacturing facility is located.
The CHIPS Act includes more than $52 billion for U.S. companies producing computer chips, as well as billions more in tax credits to encourage investment in semiconductor chip manufacturing. It also provides billions of dollars to fund scientific research and to spur the innovation and development of other U.S. technologies.
Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “We were honored to have Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer return to our New York semiconductor fab for an expanded tour as he championed the introduction and passage of the CHIPS Act. We believe Akoustis fits perfectly as part of Senator Schumer’s ‘blueprint to make New York a Global Innovation & Semiconductor Hub.’”
Mr. Shealy added, “As Akoustis solely manufactures its semiconductor products in the United States, we should be an ideal candidate for funding from the CHIPS Act. Such funding could position Akoustis to manufacture and deliver billions of XBAW® RF filter chips annually and position us to service both tier 1 and tier 2 mobile companies for 5G smartphones, as well as other end markets including 5G networks, high-frequency Wi-Fi devices, and other wireless markets.”
Akoustis began manufacturing its silicon chips in Canandaigua, NY five years ago, through a partnership with local, regional, state, and federal representatives from the State of New York. All of its RF filter wafers are made in Upstate New York - in the United States of America. Since acquiring this facility five years ago, Akoustis has invested over $65 million dollars in upgrades and new equipment and has more than tripled its number of high-paying jobs in the Finger Lakes region.
Akoustis is currently ramping commercial production and is investing to achieve annual production capacity of approximately 500 million units. Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW® filter solutions and delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers. To date, Akoustis has received more than 20 customer design wins for its patented XBAW® filter solutions.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary and patented XBAW® manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of poly-crystal, high-purity and single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which enables optimal trade-offs between critical power, frequency and bandwidth performance specifications.
Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 registered commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.
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These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.
Attachment
Contact: COMPANY: Tom Sepenzis Akoustis Technologies VP of Corporate Development & IR (980) 689-4961 tsepenzis@akoustis.com The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc. Robert B. Prag, President (858) 794-9500 bprag@delmarconsulting.com
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer Tours Akoustis Upstate New York Manufacturing Facility
Pictured left to right: Suzanne Rudy, Jeff Shealy, Senator Charles E. Schumer, and Jerry Neal.
Released September 6, 2022