1978–2000
Voestalpine AG decides to expand its product and services range during the late 1970s and chooses the semiconductor industry. Due to voestalpine looking for a joint venture partner the first cooperation with American Microsystems, Inc. (AMI), later AMI Semiconductor, now part of onsemi) was formed.[8]
In 1981, this joint venture resulted in the American Micro Systems Incorporated-Austria GmbH (AMI-A).[9] AMI owned 51% and voestalpine AG 49%. The Schloss Premstätten in Unterpremstätten (Styria, Austria) was chosen as headquarters.
In 1983, the Austrian chancellor Fred Sinowatz officially opened the 100 mm wafer factory which started its production with 300 employees.
1987 was the year when voestalpine AG took over full ownership. In September of the same year the name was changed from AMI-A to AMS (Austria Mikro Systeme International GmbH). Furthermore, there were new sales branches established in California and Germany.
In 1991, ams became one of the 25 fastest growing businesses in Europe.[10] ams was chosen to be the "top Fab of 1992".[11]
In June 1993, ams was the first semiconductor company in Europe to go public, at the Vienna stock exchange.[12]
ams opened the first sales office in Asia in 1996, the company was also accredited according to the ISO 14001:1996 and EMAS. In 1997, AMS achieved first successes in the area of deep sub-micron technologies.
NASA's "Deep Space 2" mission in 1998 took off with 2 chips developed from ams and the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. These chips were designed to manage the power supply of the whole space probe. In the same year the company was accredited according to the American and German automotive industry, QS 9000 and VDA 6.1 respectively.[13]
In 2000, ams set the foundation for the new 200 mm wafer factory. With the support of its new private equity shareholder Permira, ams left the Vienna stock exchange the same year. This resulted in a further name change to austriamicrosystems AG.
2001–2010
The new 200 mm production line starts its trial run. At the same time a license agreement has been reached between austriamicrosystems AG and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.), the largest global IC foundry. After the successful trial run the new 200 mm wafer factory goes ahead with the mass production in 2002. New sales offices in Singapore were opened in the same year, furthermore an expansion of locations in Hong Kong, Japan and the USA was carried out.
Silicon Strategies listed austriamicrosystems as the only European company under the top ten 2003 foundries worldwide.[14] austriamicrosystems AG decided to continue its policy of expansion with new sales offices in South Korea, China (Suzhou), Finland and Sweden. Additionally, a design center for multimedia playback applications was set up in Bangalore, India.
2004 was the year austriamicrosystems AG found its way back to the stock exchange. Since 17 May that year austriamicrosystems AG is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange, short SIX, in Zürich.[15]
In 2005, the standard products as well as the capacity of the 200 mm wafer factory were expanded to compensate for the shut down of the old 100 mm factory which played a main part in the success of austriamicrosystems AG.
2011–2018
In 2011, austriamicrosystems acquired 100% of the shares in Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions, Inc. (TAOS), for about US$320 million (about EUR 220m).[17] TAOS was a specialist in the area of light sensor technologies. Following the acquisition, in May 2012, austriamicrosystems rebranded to "ams" to combine austriamicrosystems and the brand of TAOS.[18] Additionally, ams AG acquired IDS Microchip AG in the same year.[19]
In June 2014, ams acquired 100% of shares in AppliedSensor, a maker of solid-state chemical gas sensors. Also in June 2014, ams published a statement of a possible merger of equals with Dialog Semiconductor.[20] Few weeks later the company announced, that the proposed merger had failed.[21]
2019–
In March 2019, ams and Wise Road Capital, a global private equity firm focusing on the semiconductor industry and other emerging high-tech industries, create a joint venture to advance the development and sales of environmental, flow and pressure sensors for the global market.[31] In April 2019, ams share value surged 20% after offering their 3D sensor technology, that was once exclusive to their largest client, Apple, to manufacturers of Android smartphones.[32]
In 2019, ams made headlines with its acquisition of the German lighting manufacturer OSRAM. In the summer of 2019, the U.S. investment firms Bain & Company and Advent International planned to jointly acquire the financially troubled company. Their offer was €35 per share, conditional on purchasing 70% of the shares for the takeover to proceed. In September 2019, ams AG also submitted an acquisition offer, proposing €38.50 per share and lowering the acceptance threshold to 62.5%.[33] After initial concerns and resistance from the labor union, the OSRAM managing board decided to recommend ams AG's offer to its shareholders.
