The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fife semi-conductor factory’s £1.2m upgrade
The Fife semi-conductor manufacturer Semefab is to receive a £1.2 million upgrade to its production facilities.
A new silicon wafer foundry will be added at the company’s Glenrothes facility, creating three jobs in the process.
The foundry will allow the company to improve cost efficiency in its operations while exploring more niche and newer technologies.
Semefab has no direct UK-based competition for its discrete and integrated circuit semiconductor devices and Micro Electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS), which are sold into the medical, automotive, industrial and consumer markets worldwide.
The company sees sensors for the ‘Internet of Things’ as a key development area, particularly for the home, wearable devices, mobile phones and environmental monitoring.
The overall £1.2m investment at Glenrothes is being supported by a £220,000 Regional Selective Assistance grant from Scottish Enterprise.
Semefab joint managing director Alan James said: “The investment is an important step in our drive to reduce lead times and fully utilise the capacity of our three wafer fabrication facilities here in Glenrothes.”
Scottish business minister Paul Wheelhouse welcomed the investment.
He said: “This is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how our world-class manufacturing and technology companies are leading the way in Scotland and around the globe.”
Adrian Gillespie, managing director of growth companies, innovation and infrastructure at Scottish Enterprise, added: “This is a superb example of a Scottish manufacturing company at the forefront of enabling technologies such as micro and nanotechnology.”