It came to light that China's Sichuan earthquake affected the MEMS industry. MEMSIC Inc, a leading US manufacturer of MEMS acceleration sensors, lowered its earnings forecasts for the second quarter (April to June 2008), impacted by the earthquake.
MEMSIC is currently rolling out thermally based acceleration sensors. In this method, part of the gas sealed in miniature hollows is warmed up with a heater. And the sensors embedded in those hollows detect multi-axial acceleration from the heat transfer in the gas caused by acceleration.
With the advantage of its high reliability, US Big Three automobile manufacturers employed this product for automotive control, MEMSIC said. The sensor has already been incorporated with mobile phones as well. Also, the company is leading the competition thanks to the simple structure of this device.
The company has lowered its financial forecasts because a project targeting the Beijing Olympic Games has been canceled. Partly because its founder and current president is from China and it has a plant in China, MEMSIC has been participating in the "Torch Project" toward the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
This project was aimed at developing a torch equipped with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that flash and show characters in line with the motion of the audience holding and waving the torch. The company's own acceleration sensor is used to detect the torch's motion.
The company said it had shipped sensors for the torch in the first quarter of 2008, but its client decided to cancel the project after the Sichuan earthquake. Accordingly, MEMSIC must deduct US$2 million sales of the shipment from sales in the second quarter. As a result, the company has lowered its latest sales guideline of $5.5-5.6 million to $3.6 million.
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