March 26, 2007 -- PENANG: MEMS Technology Bhd (MEMS Tech) has recently concluded a contract to supply about 10 million digital silicon microphones a month to a US-based multi-national corporation (MNC) starting this year.
The deal would generate US$40mil in revenue for the group per annum, group executive chairman Datuk Ahmad Kabeer Mohd Nagoor said, adding the silicon microphones would be designed and developed by the group's subsidiary SensFab Pte Ltd in Singapore.
The group's subsidiary Senzpak (M) Sdn Bhd in Senai, Johor, will package the silicon microphones.
According to Kabeer, the US-based MNC, which operates in Asia and Europe, develops mobile telecommunication devices. Among its products are handphones and two-way radios.
He said a RM25mil MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) innovation centre would be set up in Bayan Lepas, Penang, before June to conduct research and development work on a new range of silicon microphones.
It will also have a facility in Penang that makes mobile telecommunication products.
MEMS Tech is the only fully integrated micro-electro-mechanical-systems company listed in Asia, providing design, development, and assembly services.
Last August, the group received a RM9.6mil Strategic Thrust Areas Research (STAR) grant from the Multimedia Development Corp to subsidise the innovation centre.
MEMS Tech is injecting another RM16mil to finance the R&D activities and operations of the innovation centre.
"The innovation centre will engage 10 highly specialised engineers with doctoral and master degrees," he said.
The consumption of MEMS components for mobile handsets reached US$157mil in 2005, and by 2010, it is expected to surpass US$1bil.
Kabeer said there were also emerging opportunities for MEMS technology to be used in products such as inertial sensors used in the automobile industry and radio frequency components.
He said MEMS Tech recently also attracted Legg Mason Inc, one of the top five US fund management companies, to take up a 5% stake in the company.
Legg Mason, through its worldwide subsidiaries, provides investment management and related services to institutional and individual clients, company-sponsored mutual funds, and other investment vehicles.
Last year, the Singapore-based Blackhorse Management Group also took up an equity stake of 3.5% in MEMS Tech.
Jonathan Ross, the former Asian Technology head of Goldman Sachs, manages the Blackhorse Management Group.
--DAVID TAN--
