The story
Source:
Siegfried Schertler founded the company in Flawil (St.Gallen, Switzerland) in 1965. In the same year, the company headquarters were relocated to Haag in the St.Gallen Rhine Valley (Switzerland). In the early days, the focus was on research.
In the 1980s, the semiconductor industry was booming with transistors that could be built into a single silicon chip. This required a virtually particle-free production environment, which enabled VAT to enter this market thanks to high production quality. The company entered the semiconductor technology market in 1988.
After the turn of the millennium, the company expanded into the flat panel display and photovoltaic markets. In 2012, VAT launched a comprehensive investment program for a production center in close proximity to the rapidly growing customer base in Asia. The first phase of this program was completed in 2018 and the production facility in Penang (Malaysia) was completed. In 2017, VAT also opened a particle laboratory in San José (USA) that is unique in the industry.
In February 2014, the investment companies Capvis AG and Partners Group Holding AG jointly acquired VAT. VAT was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in 2016.
In 2022, VAT's net sales exceeded the CHF 1 billion mark for the first time. In February 2023, CEO Mike Allison (60) announced his resignation at the end of the 2023 financial year. On July 27, 2023, the Board of Directors appointed Urs Gantner (53), previously Executive Vice President of VAT's own Semiconductor Solutions Group, as CEO of VAT from January 1, 2024. Also in 2023 the company invested in both R&D – with the start of the construction of the new Innovation Center in Haag – and further capacity expansions in Malaysia with the completion of Plant 1B in Malaysia.
From Wikipedia’s article on VAT Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5