‘Increasingly Important’ to ‘Own and Control’ Supply Chain: AOS CEO

Alpha & Omega Semiconductor is “not immune to some of the supply chain constraints in the broader semiconductor industry,” said CEO Mike Chang on an earnings call Wednesday for its fiscal Q4 ended June 30. AOS is trying its best to manage the constraints and “mitigate any interruptions to all customers,” he said. It’s investing $100 million to boost capacity and upgrade processes at its production site outside Portland, Oregon, in hopes of generating $70 million a year in incremental revenue after the project is complete by December 2022, he said. “In the current business conditions and the shortage of capacity, it is increasingly important to have the ability to own and control our supply chain.” AOS also continues to ramp capacity at the China fab it runs as a joint venture with the municipality of Chongqing, said Chang. It’s maintaining close relationships with “multiple foundry partners” to procure “additional wafer supplies,” he said. Fiscal Q4 revenue in the company’s communications segment, which includes supplying power chips to smartphone OEMs, was up 14% year over year, down 17.4% sequentially from Q3. “This segment played out as expected, as smartphone business performed in line with normal seasonality,” said President Stephen Chang. AOS expects revenue in the segment to increase by mid-double digits in the September quarter, “as all major smartphone players in China, Korea and the U.S. are entering peak production,” he said.