AXT Completes the Ramp of OSRAM Shipments from New, Dingxing Manufacturing Facility

FREMONT, Calif., Dec. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AXT, Inc. (NasdaqGS: AXTI), a leading manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates, today announced that it has completed the ramp of its gallium arsenide substrate shipments for its major customer, OSRAM, from its new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Dingxing, China. In March, OSRAM finished its qualification of the new facility and began accepting a portion of its order volume from Dingxing, which it has continued to ramp throughout the year.

“We are very pleased to be able to fully support OSRAM’s requirements from our new, world-class manufacturing facility in Dingxing,” said Morris Young, chief executive officer. “The facility was designed from the ground up around modern manufacturing best practices, utilizing state-of-the-art equipment and improved automation. It is also designed to efficiently scale to significant capacity expansion requirements, as our customers push the forefront of new, exciting, high-volume applications for gallium arsenide substrates. We have greatly valued OSRAM’s partnership through the process of our relocation and we are excited to be able to support its growth across a breadth of established and emerging photonics fields.”

Dingxing is approximately 75 miles from Beijing. AXT began offering wafers from its new facility for customer qualification in 2019, and began customer site qualifications later that year. The relocation process was prompted by the Beijing city government’s selection of Tongzhou for its new municipal headquarters. Along with many other businesses asked to relocate their manufacturing lines in order to create room and upgrade the district, AXT was instructed to relocate its gallium arsenide manufacturing line.

About AXT, Inc.

AXT is a material science company that develops and manufactures high-performance compound and single element semiconductor substrate wafers comprising indium phosphide (InP), gallium arsenide (GaAs) and germanium (Ge). The company’s substrate wafers are used when a typical silicon substrate wafer cannot meet the performance requirements of a semiconductor or optoelectronic device. End markets include 5G infrastructure, data center connectivity (silicon photonics), passive optical networks, LED lighting, lasers, sensors, power amplifiers for wireless devices and satellite solar cells. AXT’s worldwide headquarters are in Fremont, California where the company maintains its sales, administration and customer service functions. AXT has manufacturing facilities in China and, as part of its supply chain strategy, has partial ownership in ten companies in China producing raw materials. For more information, see AXT’s website at http://www.axt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The foregoing paragraphs contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws, including, for example, statements regarding the market demand for our products, our growth prospects and opportunities for continued business expansion, our market opportunity, our relocation and our expectations with respect to our business prospects and financial results. These forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to uncertainties and factors relating to the company’s operations and business environment, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements contained in the foregoing discussion. These uncertainties and factors include but are not limited to: the timing and receipt of significant orders; the cancellation of orders and return of product; emerging applications using chips or devices fabricated on our substrates; end-user acceptance of products containing chips or devices fabricated on our substrates; our ability to bring new products to market; product announcements by our competitors; the ability to control costs and improve efficiency; the ability to utilize our manufacturing capacity; product yields and their impact on gross margins; the relocation of manufacturing lines and ramping of production; possible factory shutdowns as a result of air pollution in China; COVID-19 or other outbreaks of a contagious disease; tariffs and other trade war issues; the financial performance of our partially owned supply chain companies; policies and regulations in China and other factors as set forth in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each of these factors is difficult to predict and many are beyond the company’s control. The company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Gary Fischer
Chief Financial Officer
(510) 438-4700

Leslie Green                
Green Communications Consulting, LLC
(650) 312-9060