Opto-semiconductors company, Polymatech Electronics, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese precision manufacturing firm Orbray for sapphire wafer fabrication. By forging this partnership, the Chennai-headquartered firm will enter into sapphire wafer fabrication, and wafers from its facility will be used primarily for captive consumption.

The surplus capacity will serve companies entering the Indian market for packaging and other ATMP and OSAT units with requirement of sapphire wafers and bare dies. Orbray will supply Sapphire ingot growing technologies to Polymatech, and would also impart training to Polymatech engineers at its facility in Japan. Sapphire ingots are crystals and are upstream materials for the LED industry. 

For Polymatech Electronics, this initiative advances the company’s vision of becoming a fully integrated end-to-end semiconductor company, as it looks to convert ingot into products, thereby moving into its next growth phase. It also plans to apply to the Central government for capital subsidy for this fabrication project.

Orbray (formerly Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel) makes optical fibre components, Sapphire wafers and micro-motors, and assembles opto-semiconductors and chip modules for various applications including medical lighting, cell phone back lights and others. Polymatech has a current production capacity of around two billion opto-semiconductor chips at its facility in Oragadam in Tamil Nadu, and exports of more than USD 125 million in FY24.