Vishay

 Technological breakthroughs

In the 1950s, Dr. Felix Zandman, a physicist who is also the current Chairman and Chief Technology and Business Development Director of Weiss, was awarded PhotoStress ® Patents for coatings and instruments. These devices are used to display and measure the distribution of pressure in structures under dynamic load conditions, such as airplanes and cars. Dr. Zandman's research in this field led him to invent the Bulk Metal @ foil resistor - which has extremely high accuracy and stability, far surpassing any other existing resistor in terms of performance.

In 1962, with the financial support of Alfred P. Slaner, Dr. Zandman founded Weishi Company, which focused on developing and manufacturing Bulk Metal foil resistors. Dr. Zandman's colleague J.E. Starr invented the foil impedance strain gauge, which became a part of the Weiss products at that time. This company is named after Dr. Zandman and Mr. Slane's ancestral village in Lithuania, mainly to commemorate family members who died in the Holocaust. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Weishi established its position as a technology and market leader in foil resistors, photostress materials, and strain gauge products.

Passive component acquisition

Due to the relatively small market for foil resistors, photostress materials, and strain gauges, the company has decided to expand its high-capacity resistor business. Since 1985, Weishi has acquired Dale Electronics, Draloric Electronics, and Svernice. These acquisitions have resulted in significant sales growth for the company. They also brought some passive components to Weishi, such as inductors, specialized capacitors, plasma displays, specialized connectors, transformers, thermistors, potentiometers, and microelectronic containers.

In the early 1990s, Weishi began its acquisition strategy in order to gain market share in the high capacity capacitor market. The main acquisitions include manufacturer and inventor of tantalum capacitors, Sprague Electric, manufacturer of thin film, aluminum, ceramic disk capacitors, and thick film chip resistors, Roederstein, and manufacturer of multi-layer ceramic chip capacitors, Vitramon.

Weishi subsequently adopted some small-scale acquisitions of passive component manufacturers. In 2000, it acquired Electro-Films, Cera Matte, and Spectrol, and in 2001, it acquired Tansitor and North American Capacitor Company (Mallory).

In 2002, it mainly acquired BC components (formerly the passive component production department of Philips Electronics and Beyschlag), which is a leading passive component manufacturer in Europe and Asia. This acquisition greatly enhanced Weishi's global market position in passive components. The acquired BC components product line (divided into Weishi BC components and Weishi Besselag) includes thin film MELF resistors, linear and nonlinear resistors, ceramic, thin film, and aluminum electrolytic capacitors, as well as switches and micro potentiometers.

In 2004, Weishi acquired the Aeroflex department of MIC, a smaller manufacturer of passive components. This acquisition enhances the production capacity of Weishi's existing thin films.

Expansion in the semiconductor field

In 1997, Weishi entered the discrete semiconductor field and acquired a 65% stake in Lite On Power Semiconductor. In 1998, Weishi acquired the Semiconductor Business Group of TEMIC, which includes 80.4% of shares in Telefunken and Silicon, which mainly produce transistors, diodes, optoelectronic devices, power supplies, and analog switch integrated circuits. Weishi subsequently sold its shares in Lite On, mainly to better focus on the successful businesses of Siliconix and Telefunken.

The next semiconductor company acquisition by Weishi occurred in 2001, when it purchased the infrared component business of Infineon Technologies. Following the acquisition of General Semiconductor, a leading manufacturer of diodes and organizers worldwide, in 2001. Infineon's infrared components and General Semiconductor's business complement and enhance the existing business capabilities of Telefunken and Siliconix, and promote Weishi into the ranks of top discrete semiconductor manufacturers. In April 2007, Vishay completed the acquisition of certain discrete semiconductor and module product lines for International Rectifier.

Vertical Integration

In recent years, Weishi has made some small company acquisitions that are significant in expanding its strain gauge business. During 2002, Vishay acquired Sensing Electronics, Tedea Huntleigh, BLH, Nobel, and Celtron, all of which have been integrated into Vishay Measurements Group. Through these acquisitions, Weishi has entered the global market for strain gauge based sensors and instruments in the weighing industry, and has also achieved a strategy of vertical market integration. From impedance strain gauges (which have a high position in the world in this field) to sensors (metal structures of bonded strain gauges), to electronic instruments and systems used to measure and control the output of transducers.

In the first half of 2005, Weishi looked forward to completing the acquisition of SI Technologies, which will further consolidate Weishi's market position in the fields of sensors, instruments, and system devices.

New growth areas

In 2004, Weishi completed a plan to acquire a fledgling innovative company in the wireless field by acquiring RFWaves, a company engaged in the design of integrated circuits without processing lines (problems). This represents a new development direction for Weishi, which goes back to the establishment of the company in 1962 and is consistent with Weishi's commitment to innovation. RFWaves is a part of a new field involving Weishi, which will "incubate" and nurture advanced products and technologies, all of which are new fields for Weishi and have strong development potential.

While seeking growth in new areas, Weishi will also continue to promote its core business of discrete semiconductors and passive components. In the future, Weishi will make some investments to ensure the company's continued growth.