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POCATELLO, IDAHO - Nestled in the mountains of southeastern Idaho, normally quiet American Microsystems Inc. made some noise last week with the official christening of Fab 10, its latest expansion. Despite being one year late due to a dispute with the construction-management firm, the new fab marks the end of a particularly gratifying period at AMI. After near death, the company has fought back to become a steadily profitable and growing business. Revenues in the next year will be coming from a restructured marketing approach, shoring up of the translationASIC business and even a hardwon deal to carry Motorola's discontinued gate-array business.
The $330 million cost of both phases of AMI's Fab 10 are bankrolled in part by parent company Japan Electric Corp., formerly Nippon Mining. True to Japanese form, JEC has been patient with AMI, enduring 10 years of losses before watching its offspring blossom into 22 percent annual growth in the 1990s. Revenues are expected to hit $270 million this year and $500 million in 2000, according to company projections.
"I don't think we could have written this story, of AMI for the past seven years, if we had our biggest Cinderella dream cap on," said Harold Blomquist, senior vice president.
AMI started life in 1966 as a Santa Clara, Calif.based manufacturer of custom metal-gate PMOS parts. In 1982, the company was acquired by electronics old-timer Gould, which in turn was acquired by Nippon Mining. Gould had bled AMI dry, using it as a cash source and leaving JEC little to work with. JEC acquired Gould for its copper foiling business and was at a loss as to what to do with AMI.
In the end, JEC decided to give semiconductors a shot and put money into AMI with a patience that only now is being rewarded. In 1993, AMI hit profitability for the first time in more than a decade and has been in the black ever since. The company remains a privately held subsidiary of JEC, with nine board seats-four held by JEC, four by AMI and one by Gould. (Curiously, Gould still exists as a JEC subsidiary...