Charlotte, N.C., June 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), a manufacturer of patented single-crystal
BulkONE® bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today it has
completed the acquisition of assets from the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF-SUNY) and Fuller Road Management
Corporation (FRMC), an affiliate of RF-SUNY.
The assets acquired include STC-MEMS, a semiconductor wafer manufacturing operation and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) business with associated 150-mm wafer manufacturing tools,
as well as real estate associated with the 120,000 square foot facility located in Canandaigua, New
York.
In order to support and motivate Akoustis’ expansion into Upstate New York, Empire State Development (“ESD”) has offered the Company up to $8 million in
performance-based incentives under the Excelsior Jobs Program.
Akoustis paid $2.75 million in cash at closing, plus conventional closing costs including a $96k net inventory adjustment, to
RF-SUNY and FRMC to acquire all of the following:
- 120,000 sq. ft. commercial wafer manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes Class 100/Class 1000
cleanroom space (“NY Facility”).
- 57-acres of real property associated with the NY Facility.
- 150-mm MEMS wafer fab business, including all semiconductor manufacturing tools.
- Department of Defense (DoD) Category 1A Trusted Foundry accreditation for MEMS processing, packaging and assembly, the
transfer of which to Akoustis is in-process.
- Two existing leasehold tenants with recently-extended, multi-year leases.
Jeffrey Shealy, CEO of Akoustis, commented “This acquisition is an enormous win for our shareholders and its significance cannot
be over-stated. It immediately provides a step-function improvement in our ability to design and manufacture our patented BAW
RF filters and will accelerate our timeline into commercial production.”
The Company is currently pursuing the required security credentials needed to transfer the existing DoD Category 1A Trusted Foundry accreditation for MEMS processing, packaging and module
assembly. In order to expedite the transfer of the Trusted Foundry accreditation, Akoustis has received support from U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer in a letter to the United States Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis.
New York Senator Charles Schumer commented, “Completing the successful transfer of the Defense Department’s Trusted Foundry
accreditation is a win-win to enable Akoustis Technologies to grow new jobs while maintaining a trusted supply-chain of
locally-produced components needed by the Defense Department.”
The acquisition allows Akoustis to internalize manufacturing providing substantial capacity and control of its wafer supply
chain for single crystal BAW RF filters. Akoustis plans to utilize the NY Facility to consolidate all aspects of wafer
manufacturing for its disruptive and patented high-band RF filters targeting the multi-billion mobile and other wireless markets.
The consolidation of the Company’s supply chain into the NY Facility will reduce wafer cycle time for its RF filter products and
greatly enhance the Company’s ability to service customers. Shorter wafer cycle time reduces time-to-market providing the Company
the opportunity to increase the number of customer engagements.
Dr. Art Geiss, Co-Chairman of Akoustis, stated, “Over the past 90 days, our management and Board have had the opportunity to
engage with the employees at STC-MEMS and we could not be more impressed with their professionalism, dedication and expertise.
The team we have transitioned from STC-MEMS to Akoustis is extremely valuable and provides a critical component to expanding
our manufacturing center-of-excellence in New York State.”
After a detailed review of STC-MEMS’ customer programs, Akoustis plans to transition up to $1.5 million of existing MEMS revenue
in FY2018.
Akoustis is pioneering next-generation material science 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. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal piezoelectric materials
and the resonator-filter process technology. The advanced material properties drive electro-mechanical coupling, which
translates to wide filter bandwidth. High-band RF filters are achieved by leveraging the Company’s high-sound velocity,
single-crystal piezoelectric materials. These single-crystal piezoelectric materials offer high-thermal conductivity along the
path of heat flow, enabling high-power handling capability of the RF filter.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com) is a high-tech RF filter solutions company that designs and
manufactures its unique, patented BulkONE® technology to produce single-crystal bulk acoustic wave (BAW) RF filters for mobile and
other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back
end. Its BulkONE® technology will service the fast growing multi-billion dollar market of device OEMs, network providers, and
consumers to diminish Front End phone heat, battery drain and signal loss -- all considered to be directly related to current RF
polycrystalline filter technologies' limitations. Akoustis’ capital-efficient business model leverages new and existing
investments in manufacturing infrastructure within the semiconductor industry. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq.
ft. commercial wafer manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a state-of-the-art class 100/class 1000
cleanroom facility tooled for 150-mm diameter wafer manufacturing. Akoustis is headquartered in the Piedmont technology
corridor between Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. Akoustis operates an ISO-9001 Quality Management System certified for the
design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filter MEMS and semiconductor devices.
About Trusted Foundry
The Trusted Foundry Program was initiated in 2004 to ensure mission-critical national defense systems have access to
leading-edge integrated circuits (ICs) from secure, domestic sources. Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) is the program
manager for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the program provides a cost-effective means to assure the integrity and
confidentiality of integrated circuits during design and manufacturing while providing the U.S. Government with access to leading
edge microelectronics technologies for both Trusted and non-sensitive applications. The program includes foundry capability
plus a full-range of microelectronics services from design through prototyping, packaging and assembly, photomask manufacturing and
aggregation.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements, which are based
on management’s current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify
forward-looking statements by terminology, including “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,”
“intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “predicts,” “should,” “will,” “would” or the negative of these terms or other comparable
terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without
limitation,
- risks relating to the results of our research and development activities, including uncertainties relating to semiconductor
process manufacturing;
- the early stage of our BulkONE® technology presently under development;
- our need for substantial additional funds in order to continue our operations and the uncertainty of whether we will be able
to obtain the funding we need;
- our ability to retain or hire key scientific, engineering or management personnel; our ability to protect our intellectual
property rights that are valuable to our business, including patent and other intellectual property rights;
- our dependence on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, research organizations, testing laboratories and other potential
collaborators;
- our acquisition of STC-MEMS could disrupt our business, may not be successfully integrated, and we may not be able to operate
it profitably or realize the benefits of the acquired business within expected timeframes or at all;
- our ongoing attempts to transfer the Trusted Foundry accreditation from STC-MEMS to Akoustis may be delayed for various
reasons or may never occur;
- our ability to successfully market and sell our technologies;
- the size and growth of the potential markets for any of our technologies, and the rate and degree of market acceptance of any
of our technologies;
- competition in our industry; and
- regulatory developments in the U.S. and foreign countries.
In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances
discussed in this press release 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 presentation 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 for any reason after the
date of this presentation to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. The materials do not
constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of any offer to buy, any securities of Akoustis, or any other entity
whatsoever. Any representation to the contrary by any party should be ignored.
Akoustis Contact Information:
COMPANY:
Dave Aichele
Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
VP of Business Development
704-997-5735, ext. 106
daichele@akoustis.com
INVESTORS:
The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
858-794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com
