Yageo to Tap Automotive Electronics Market With Thin-film Resistors

Taipei, April 17, 2006 (CENS)--Yageo Corp. of Taiwan, one of the world's leading thin-film resistor makers, recently announced that it would utilize its industry-leading laser trimming and vacuum sputtering techniques to produce a full series of thin-film resistor products for tapping the automotive electronics market.

In 2005, according to Yageo, sales in the automotive application market accounted for one-third of the company's total revenue, and such business is expected to grow by at least 20% in 2006.

Yageo is one of the top-three worldwide makers of thin-film resistors. The company has been actively tapping the automotive market in recent years and last year introduced the AEC-Q200 standard to ensure the highest reliability of its resistor products for automotive applications.

Yageo claimed that it is scheduled to pass the TS-16949 certification this year, proving that it is qualified to supply parts to large global carmakers.

Analysis conducted by the Industrial Economics & Knowledge Center (IEK) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute attributes the continuously rising ratio of automotive electronics parts and systems used in modern cars to automakers' use of new technologies to upgrade competitiveness and cut costs.

A increasing number of integrated circuit (IC) chips—anywhere from 100 to 150 per car—will likely be adopted by new cars in the near future, an industry analyst said, creating a strong potential market for electronics-part and semiconductor makers.