July 10, 2006 – Synova, a privately held Swiss developer of water jet-guided laser technology, said it will open a micromachining center in Silicon Valley to be open by January 2007, serving as a competence center for demonstration, sample testing, and application development, and offer micromachining services to the local industry. Joseph Battaglia, formerly with Speedline Technologies and Cookson Electronics in various product marketing and bizdev roles, will oversee the facility’s activities.

Expanding operations to the US demonstrates the company’s growth, but also a desire to tap new regionally active markets, according to the company. “The US poses large market opportunities for us in the areas of inkjet printer head MEMS, hard disk drive (HDD) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) sectors,” stated CEO Bernold Richerzhagen. Synova noted the compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for inkjet printer head MEMS, HDDs and OLEDs forecasted worldwide at 8.8%, 15.5%, and 74%, respectively.

Synova’s flagship “laser microjet” technology replaces traditional cutting technologies such as conventional lasers and diamond blade saws, for applications in inkjet print head MEMS, HDDs, and OLEDs to help prevent damaging the materials due to their thermo-mechanical stress sensitivity.