written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . february 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message ams ag type public traded as six ams isin at0000a18xm4 industry semiconductors founded 1981 as joint venture between ami semiconductor amis and voestalpine ag key people alexander everke ceo michael wachsler markowitsch cfo thomas stockmeier coo kirk s. laney chief strategist products sensors sensor interfaces power management wireless analog electronics revenue eur 623.1 million 2015 1 eur 464.4 million 2014 2 operating income eur 147.3 million 2015 1 eur 105.4 million 2014 2 profit eur 148.7 million 2015 1 eur 97.5 million 2014 2 total assets eur 1 223.4 million 2015 1 eur 955.0 million 2014 2 total equity eur 681.2 million 2015 1 eur 555.8 million 2014 2 number of employees 2 100 2015 website www.ams.com ams ag formerly known as austriamicrosystems ag and still known as ams austria mikro systeme is a multinational semiconductor manufacturer . the headquarters are located in premst tten 3 styria austria . the main fields of the business are the development and production of high performance analog integrated circuitry ics such as standard analog products as well as customer specific solutions asics . ams ag is engaged in the areas of sensors and sensor interfaces power management and wireless . with their products they serve the markets of communication & consumer electronics industry industrial & medical electronics and automotive electronics . 4 the almost 2 100 employees in 20 countries include research and development facilities in austria a center of excellence in optical sensors in texas usa 16 other design centers and manufacturing in austria and the philippines . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 1978 2000 1.2 2001 2010 1.3 2011 present 1.4 ch teau premst tten 2 managing board 3 key figure 4 shareholder structure 5 business segments 6 research and development 7 quality and environmental management 8 manufacturing 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit 1978 2000 edit voestalpine ag decides to expand its product and services range during the late 1970s and chooses the semiconductor industry . due to voestalpine looking for a joint venture partner the first cooperation with american micro systems ami was formed . 6 in 1981 this joint venture resulted in the american micro systems inc. austria gmbh . ami owned 51 % and voestalpine ag 49 % . the ch teau premst tten in unterpremst tten styria austria was chosen as headquarters . this was followed by the construction of the first austrian semiconductor factory . the set up of a sales branch for roms and standard products was also tackled during this period . in 1983 the austrian chancellor fred sinowatz officially opened the 100mm wafer factory which started its production with 300 employees . 1987 was the year when voestalpine ag took over full ownership . in september of the same year the name was changed from ami a to ams austria mikro systeme international gmbh . furthermore there were new sales branches established in california and germany . in 1991 ams became one of the 25 fastest growing businesses in europe . 7 ams was chosen to be the top fab of 1992 source semiconductor international usa . in june 1993 ams was the first semiconductor company in europe to go public at the vienna stock exchange . 8 ams decides to conquer new markets and that s how the first sales office in asia came about in 1996 . in this year the company was also accredited according to the iso 14001 1996 and emas the european eco management and audit scheme . 1997 ams achieved first successes in the area of deep submicron technologies . nasas deep space 2 mission in 1998 took off with 2 chips developed from ams and the aircraft manufacturer boeing . these chips were designed to manage the power supply of the whole space probe . in the same year the company was accredited according to the american and german automotive industry qs 9000 and vda 6.1 respectively . 9 2000 ams set the foundation for the new 200mm wafer factory . with the support of its new private equity shareholder permira ams left the vienna stock exchange the same year . this resulted in a further name change to austriamicrosystems ag . 2001 2010 edit the new 200mm production line starts its trial run . at the same time a license agreement has been reached between austriamicrosystems ag and tsmc taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company ltd. the largest global ic foundry . after the successful trial run the new 200mm wafer factory goes ahead with the mass production in 2002 . new sales offices in singapore were opened in the same year furthermore an expansion of locations in hong kong japan and the usa was carried out . silicon strategies listed austriamicrosystems as the only european company under the top ten 2003 foundries worldwide . 10 austriamicrosystems ag decided to continue its policy of expansion with new sales offices in south korea china suzhou finland and sweden . additionally a design center for multimedia playback applications was set up in banglore india . 2004 was the year austriamicrosystems ag found its way back to the stock exchange . since 17 may that year austriamicrosystems ag is listed on the swiss stock exchange short six in z rich . 11 in 2005 the standard products as well as the capacity of the 200mm wafer factory were expanded to compensate for the shut down of the old 100mm factory which played a main part in the success of austriamicrosystems ag . in 2006 the year of the 25th anniversary a new test centre in the philippines and a new design centre in india were built . the 200mm wafer factory was also expanded further . in 2007 austriamicrosystems ag stepped into new business segments in the form of a partnership with the micro motor manufacturer new scale technologies . in the same year the new cafeteria & conference centre ccc was built by the architect di tinchon . the financial and the resulting economic crisis didn t pass austriamicrosystems ag without leaving their mark . as many other companies they had to reduce work hours for parts of their workforce . however this didn t last long as the orders started to grow again and all of those who had reduced hours could return to full hours . but even during these economically difficult times austriamicrosystems ag managed to join the un global compact to reduce emissions and plans in the mid term to produce co2 free . 12 nevertheless austriamicrosystems ag reached revenues amounting to eur 209.4 in 2010 . 2011 present edit in 2011 austriamicrosystems acquired 100 % of the shares in texas advanced optoelectronic solutions inc. taos for about usd 320 million about eur 220m . 13 taos works in the area of light sensor technologies and delivers solutions for display management for consumer electronics . in may 2012 austriamicrosystems rebrands to ams . the new brand name ams conjoins austriamicrosystems and the brand of taos a global supplier of intelligent lights sensors acquired in 2011 . 14 furthermore ams ag acquired ids microchip ag in the same year . 15 since may 13 2013 kirk laney former ceo of taos inc. took over the interim management of the company after the step down of john heugle head of company for 11 years . 16 in june 2014 ams acquired 100 % of shares in appliedsensor a global leader in solid state chamical gas sensor solutions . 17 on june 25 2014 ams published a statement of a possible merger of equals with dialog semiconductor . 18 in a press release dated july 27 2015 ams reached an agreement with new york to construct a semiconductor fabrication plant in the state . 19 20 ch teau premst tten edit in 1164 the foundation for the ch teau premst tten was laid by the knights hermann and gumprecht of premst tten . 200 years later the 600 year reign of the counts of saurau began . 21 austriamicrosystems site near graz austria includes a castle . the appearance of the ch teau today is mainly thanks to the counts of saurau . the arcaded atrium has been built in the second half of the 17th century . it received today s still maintained rococo look more than a hundred years later . from 1848 onwards the ownership of the ch teau changed more frequently . first the noble family go ss held the ownership but was soon followed by the noble family of normann . 22 in 1931 the ch teau was bought by the order of comboni a catholic missionary order . the order was dispossessed of the ch teau by the ns regime which used it as a secret radio communication base . after the war it was not restored to the order ; instead it was used by american and russian troops as a base . only after the occupation period did the order get the ch teau back but it was in a miserable state . 23 the following years were marked by numerous renovation works . this had a huge financial impact on the order . in 1981 the order of comboni finally decided to sell the ch teau to the voestalpine ag under the condition that they would keep the chapel intact in its form and purpose . after extensive renovation to adapt the ch teau to office purposes it became the headquarters of austriamicrosystems ag . managing board edit in 2016 the board was composed of 24 alexander everke ceo since 2016 thomas stockmeier coo since 2014 michael wachsler markowitsch cfo since 2003 kirk s. laney chief strategist & member of the management board since 2016 key figure edit financial and employees number of last year . 25 year revenues in eur m ebitda in eur m number of employees 2007 193.9 48.6 1 071 2008 184 .7 46.9 1 129 2009 137 .2 2.8 1 087 2010 209 .4 27.1 1 119 2011 275 .7 43.1 1 193 2012 387 .6 84.8 1 282 2013 377 .8 63.9 1 394 2014 464 .4 105.4 1 700 2015 623 .1 147.3 2 100 shareholder structure edit ams ag is listed on the six swiss exchange ticker symbol ams since 2004 . approx . 92 % of the shares are free float around 8 % are held by the management and by other former taos shareholders . 26 business segments edit in the segment of consumer & communications ams serves the markets of mobile communication and mobile as well as fixed entertainment electronics . their main focus rests on chip solutions for the power and lighting management . these chips can be found in mp3 players mobile phones lcd tvs and xenon or led camera flashes . in the area of medical and industrial electronics ams provides sensors and sensor interfaces . their products are known to measure to smallest signals under extreme conditions such as extreme temperature fluctuations humidity and vibration . in the field of automotive electronics ams ag supplies semiconductor solutions which are used in intelligent vehicle access security and comfort systems . they also supply sensors sensor interfaces and high speed bus systems . ams s foundry is aimed at fabless companies chip designers and integrated semiconductor providers which don t have their own wafer factory . hereby the focus lies on analog and mixed signal ics which often need complex and specialised processes . 27 research and development edit ams ag consistently invests in research and development . in the year 2015 research and development expenses totaled eur 107.8 m corresponding to 17 % of revenue . on average the research and development department includes 390 employees . 28 quality