AT&S reports record sales revenue

The Austrian manufacturer of printed circuit boards AT&S AG saw its sales revenue hit a record high of 667 million euros ($750 million) in the fiscal year 2014-15, up 13.1 percent year-on-year, according to its recently released annual results.

The strong growth in mobile devices, especially smartphones, combined with the constantly increasing share of electronics in the automotive sector throughout the year, have helped to realize the highest revenue in the company's history to date, according to Andreas Gerstenmayer, chairman of the management board of AT&S.

Seasonal effects hardly impacted the past fiscal year. The fourth quarter, which is usually affected by the Chinese New Year and temporary production downtime at the Shanghai plant, significantly exceeded expectations thanks to the continuous development in the mobile device and substrates segment.

"In the future, with a new generation of printed circuit boards in addition to the new business segment integrated circuit substrates, we will tap further potential for long-term growth in the high-end segment by expanding our site in Chongqing, which is currently under construction," said Gerstenmayer.

The Chongqing plants of AT&S located in LiangJiang New Area covering some 125,768 square meters, has seen its first phase plant completed. It will have an annual capacity of 150,000 sq m of integrated circuits with a headcount of 1,500 workers. The second phase plant to be completed in mid-2017, will have an annual capacity of 200,000 sq m of substrate-like printed circuit boards with 1,600 employees. The total investment will amount to 480 million euros.

AT&S set up its Shanghai plant in 2000, involving some $810 million in investment so far. Proximity to the electronic value chain and the rapid growth of the Asian and Chinese markets is one of the major reasons AT&S continue to invest in China.

In the past fiscal year, Asia accounted for 17 percent of the total global sales revenue of AT&S, with China taking up 79 percent of its Asian revenue. With the completion of the Chongqing plants, this proportion will grow to 90 percent, said Gerstenmayer.