– Senator Schumer’s Recently Introduced U.S. Innovation and Competition Act Would Provide $52 Billion in Funding to Implement Semiconductor-Related Manufacturing and R&D Programs –
Charlotte, N.C., June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is scheduled to visit and give a speech today at Akoustis Technologies’ 120,000 square foot semiconductor manufacturing fab located in Canandaigua, New York.
Senator Schumer recently introduced landmark bipartisan legislation, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which combines the Endless Frontiers Act and other bipartisan competitiveness bills. The legislation would provide $52 billion in funding to implement semiconductor-related manufacturing and R&D programs in the United States, including Upstate New York. The Senator’s vison is to make New York a global hub for semiconductor manufacturing.
Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “I would like to thank Senator Chuck Schumer for his visionary leadership, his support of the US semiconductor industry, and his unwavering push to strengthen American leadership in chip manufacturing.” Mr. Shealy continued, “With many countries investing in their own semiconductor industries, it is imperative that the U.S. creates an environment that supports on-shore chip manufacturing. With its bipartisan support, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act will provide the funding needed to help keep American semiconductor chip manufacturing competitive.”
Akoustis began manufacturing silicon chips in Canandaigua, NY four years ago. Since acquiring its fab, Akoustis has invested tens of millions of dollars to modernize its manufacturing capability and has announced that it will achieve 24/7 operation by the end of calendar 2021 to reduce manufacturing cycle time. Akoustis is currently ramping commercial production and is investing to achieve annual production capacity of approximately 500 million units by the end of calendar 2021.
Akoustis currently has 15 commercial XBAW filters in its product catalog, and recently introduced 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz WiFi 6E coexistence filter modules, which when qualified, will bring the number of catalog products to 17. Current product catalog filters include a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Akoustis® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing 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. The Company utilizes its proprietary XBAW® manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of high-purity, single-crystal and associated piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which drives electro-mechanical coupling and translates to wide filter bandwidth.
Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 registered commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility – tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers – for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Forward-Looking Statements
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These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document 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. 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