Aixtron SE is a German technology company, which specialises in manufacturing metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) equipment, for clients in the

semiconductor industry The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semico ...

. The company's shares are listed on the

Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm (German time). Organisation Locate ...

. AIXTRON is a constituent of the

MDAX The MDAX is a stock index which lists German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The index is calculated by Deutsche Börse. Until 2021 included the 60 Prime Standard shares from sectors that rank immediately below (in value of ...

and

TecDAX The TecDAX stock index tracks the performance of the 30 largest German companies from the technology sector. In terms of order book turnover and market capitalization the companies rank below those included in the DAX. The TecDax was introduc ...

index.

History

AIXTRON was founded as a

spin-out A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active. Charact ...

industry from

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

in 1983. The company was listed on the

's now-defunct Neuer Markt, in November 1997. Since going public the company has made several

acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

, with the Scientific Equipment Division of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

company

Thomas Swan Founded in England in 1926, Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. is a leading independent manufacturer of performance and fine chemicals. The company manufactures over 100 products, from kilogram to multi-tonne quantities, and offers an experienced and flexi ...

& Co. and the Swedish

chemical vapor deposition Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (subst ...

equipment maker Epigress AB both purchased in 1999. The company completed a €118 million merger with American rival Genus, Inc. in March 2005 and bought British

nanomaterial * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to na ...

developer Nanoinstruments Ltd., a company spun out from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, in 2007. In December 2010 the company converted from a German

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equiva ...

to a

Societas Europaea A ''societas Europaea'' (, ; "European society" or "company"; plural: ; abbr. SE) is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute fo ...

to reflect its European and international nature. In October 2016 China’s ''Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP'' made a bid to purchase Aixtron. The proposed acquisition was tainted by collusion; shortly before Fujian Grand Chip made its public takeover bid, San’an Optoelectronics canceled a critical order from Aixtron on dubious grounds, sending its share price down for Fujian Grand Chips to make a less-expensive offer (both San’an Optoelectronics and Fujian Grand Chips are controlled by the same state-owned semiconductor fund). As a result,

Germany’s economics ministry The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (german: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz, ), abbreviated BMWK (was BMWi), is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was previously known as ...

withdrew the approval of the takeover. In November 2016 the

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS, commonly pronounced "Cifius" ) is an inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. compani ...

(CFIUS) recommended both sides to drop their plan, because of national security concerns. In 2017 AIXTRON sold its ALD/CVD Memory Product line, produced in Sunnyvale (

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

) to Eugene Technology from South Korea. AIXTRON said it continues to execute restructuring measures as well as to seek the establishment of partnerships for its OLED business in order to return to profitability in 2018, and to this end in October 2017 the OLED business became a separate company - APEVA SE. On 24 October 2018 AIXTRON announced that it had signed a joint venture agreement with Korean company IRUJA Co. Ltd. to invest in APEVA, AIXTRON's subsidiary for OLED deposition technologies. Closing of the joint venture agreement is expected during 2018.

Operations

In 2020, 73% of AIXTRON's

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...

s come from clients in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, with around 15% coming from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and the remaining 12% from the United States. The company produces metalorganic chemical vapour deposition equipment, used for making a range of electronic and opto-electronic products containing

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

, organic as well as

nanotube A nanotube is a nanometer-scale hollow tube-like structure. Kinds of nanotubes * BCN nanotube, composed of comparable amounts of boron, carbon, and nitrogen atoms * Boron nitride nanotube, a polymorph of boron nitride * Carbon nanotube, includes ...

s and

nanofiber Nanofibers are fibers with diameters in the nanometer range (typically, between 1 nm and 1 μm). Nanofibers can be generated from different polymers and hence have different physical properties and application potentials. Examples of natural polyme ...

s. Many AIXTRON systems use a "planetary reactor" process whereby

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

eous semiconductor substances are deposited on revolving

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light and dry biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. Wafers can also be made into cookies with cream flavoring sandwiched between them. They ...

s, while others utilise a Close Coupled " shower head" method of deposition. Manufacturing sites are located in

Herzogenrath Herzogenrath ( Ripuarian: ; li, Hertseraoj; nl, ’s-Hertogenrade) is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running alon ...

near Aachen in Germany, and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies established in 1983 Manufacturing companies of Germany Technology companies of Germany Equipment semiconductor companies Companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 1983 establishments in West Germany Companies in the TecDAX Companies in the MDAX