Tronics, fast growing MEMS manufacturer expands characterization, packaging and test capabilities and goes to 6”

March 2007

Christian Pisella

Tronics begins 2007 with confidence and considerable momentum following last year's achievements. Highlights of 2006 include:

Recognition as one of EMEA's fastest-growing semiconductor companies
New projects and partnerships with industry leaders
Expanded capabilities in test, reliability and characterization
6"-wafer line operational and running

Our Performance Recognized by Deloitte Touche

For the third consecutive year, Tronics has been recognized as one of the 200 fastest-growing high-tech companies in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa by Deloitte Touche LLP. The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA also listed Tronics as the fastest-growing French company in the semiconductor/hardware category. The rankings, based on average annual revenue growth over five years, include public and private companies in all technology fields.

New Partnerships Fuel Continued Strong Growth

Building on our continued success, we entered into several new long-term agreements in 2006 with prestigious organizations in diverse industries. On the one hand we have strengthened our leadership on custom inertial sensors. And on the other, we have developed our customers' portfolios in the Medical and Life Sciences industries. Highlights include partnerships with Thales Aerospace for advanced inertial sensors on SOI and with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG) for the industrialization of one of their microfluidic actuators.

Test, Characterization Expansion Adds Value for Customers

Strengthening our commitment to provide end-to-end services, we have expanded our characterization and test capabilities. Tronics invested a portion of the 1.7M€ in venture backing we received in May in additional equipment for reliability studies and new product characterization. This investment supports our new projects and provides added value to our customers.

Production Capacity Doubled with 6''-Wafer Technology

Last year also produced significant enhancement of our capacity and technological capabilities. In addition to integrating new competencies in electronic interfacing and broadening our back-end services, we upgraded our facility to 6"-wafer technology thus doubling our production capacity. The manufacturing line has ramped up in the second half of 2006 and is now fully operational. It enables Tronics to take over new projects and meet the needs of higher-volume applications.