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ismini.scouras
GREAT-Terry
"With the TAOS acquisition, sensors and sensor interface ICs now account for as ...
What's in a name? Plenty, says CEO of former austriamicrosystems
Ismini Scouras
8/2/2012 8:58 PM EDT
NEW YORK—Rarely does a company with brand recognition alters its name. But for austriamicrosystems, the board’s decision to truncate its title to “ams” was intended to bring the company back to its roots, according to its president and CEO John Heugle.
“We’ve always historically been referred to as ams, and years ago we had the right to use the ams name. That was lost,” Heugle said in an interview. “austriamicrosystems globalized the company, and in the last couple of years, [the name] was quite a mouthful.”
The modification does not, however, signal a shift in this European chip company’s strategy. If anything, it emphasizes its determination to become a leading vendor of sensor and sensor interface, power management and wireless solutions. With its $320 million acquisition of Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions Inc., (TAOS), a maker of light, proximity and color sensors, in June 2011, ams is emerging as a small to mid-sized analog company positioned to finish 2012 with double-digit growth.
The company expects 2012 revenue growth of around 40 percent compared with last year as its business in growth markets for smartphones, tablet PCs and mobile devices continues to expand. In 2011, the company reported sales of $383.3 million.
Along with its microphone interface business, “We’ve see strong growth in lighting products, our industrial and medical is showing nice growth as is our wireless business for authentication and payment,” Heugle said.
Next: New products
“We’ve always historically been referred to as ams, and years ago we had the right to use the ams name. That was lost,” Heugle said in an interview. “austriamicrosystems globalized the company, and in the last couple of years, [the name] was quite a mouthful.”
The modification does not, however, signal a shift in this European chip company’s strategy. If anything, it emphasizes its determination to become a leading vendor of sensor and sensor interface, power management and wireless solutions. With its $320 million acquisition of Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions Inc., (TAOS), a maker of light, proximity and color sensors, in June 2011, ams is emerging as a small to mid-sized analog company positioned to finish 2012 with double-digit growth.
The company expects 2012 revenue growth of around 40 percent compared with last year as its business in growth markets for smartphones, tablet PCs and mobile devices continues to expand. In 2011, the company reported sales of $383.3 million.
Along with its microphone interface business, “We’ve see strong growth in lighting products, our industrial and medical is showing nice growth as is our wireless business for authentication and payment,” Heugle said.
Next: New products
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GREAT-Terry
8/3/2012 1:25 AM EDT
"With the TAOS acquisition, sensors and sensor interface ICs now account for as much as 70 percent of ams’ revenues". Is it a bit strange that revenue is so dominated by a newly acquired company? Can I say the original AMS guys are not doing well in their original work?
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ismini.scouras
8/3/2012 11:51 AM EDT
Sensors do account for a large portion of ams’ revenue, especially after the TAOS acquisition last year. However, even before the deal, ams’ product portfolio included sensors for the industrial and medical markets. The deal not only rounded out its sensor offerings, but gave it a bigger presence in smart phones and tablets. It is precisely this area, too, that ams expects to garner higher sales growth with its wireless products, including its NFC-based chips for mobile payment and UHF RFID reader solutions for authentication.
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