As the general economic nosedived in the fall of 2008, the MEMS market also saw its growth momentum slump in the course of the year. The analyst iSuppli confirms that the worldwide demand for MEMS has declined particularly within the automotive and consumer electronic industries. And a gradual downward trend was also visible in other high tech areas, as even “safe and sound” companies in the Life Science industry suffer from the financial meltdown.

Despite the gloomy economic conditions, 2008 business was kept up well with a Net Sales of $22 million for the year. Moreover we strengthen our position as more new companies decided to employ our services than ever before during a single year.

2009 will be an exciting year for Silex. With our new eight inch fab operational, and the first customer wafer already shipped, we expect to obtain a lot of traction from major MEMS actors. The second quarter also showed signs of recovery fueled by increased demand from our customers. The enduring challenge will be to ride the current economic wave well in order to be prepared when the bright future arrives.

Together with our leading-edge technology, production knowhow and our strong customer base, the new eight inch foundry services induce confidence that we will achieve a select position once this recession has abated.

Järfälla, Sweden in July 2009

Jan Nerdal, CEO