Taiwan-based Wafer Works Optronics will gradually expand its production capacity of sapphire wafers beginning May-June, with monthly capacity to be hiked from 100,000 wafers currently to 200,000 units around the end of 2011, according to the company.
Wafer Works Optronics was originally a business group under Wafer Works, a Taiwan-based maker of semiconductor and solar-grade silicon wafers, and spun off in 2007, with the latter holding a 47% stake currently.
Wafer Works Optronics currently has in-house monthly capacity of growing 8,000-10,000mm of sapphire ingots, meeting only 10% of its demand. With the remaining 90% of demand supplied by Taiwan-based USI Optronics as well as sources in South Korea and Russia, the company hopes to increase self-sufficiency to 50%.
Wafer Works Optronics generated revenues of NT$410 million (US$13.2 million), shipping 500,000-700,000 sapphire wafers of which about 90% were patterned sapphire substrates. The company expects to ship 1.5-2 million sapphire wafers in 2011.