Rogue Valley Microdevices’ expansion to Palm Bay will enable it to increase supply-chain resilience and boost production volume, the company said.
MEDFORD, Ore.—Rogue Valley Microdevices, an Oregon-based advanced manufacturing company specializing in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), reported that it acquired a 50,000-square-foot commercial building in Palm Bay, Florida, to serve as its second microfabrication facility.
The manufacturer’s expansion to Palm Bay will enable it to increase supply-chain resilience and boost production volume while creating 75 new high-tech jobs along Florida’s Space Coast, the company said in a release.
Rogue Valley Microdevices has been serving a global customer base from its Medford facility since 2003. The company said it is now targeting an overall MEMS market that is expected to reach $22.3 billion by 2027, according to Yole Intelligence.
Rogue Valley Microdevices CEO and Founder Jessica Gomez. (Photo courtesy Rogue Valley Microdevices)
“For the last two decades, Rogue Valley Microdevices has played a critical role in the MEMS and sensor ecosystem,” said Jessica Gomez, founder and CEO, Rogue Valley Microdevices, in a statement. “We’ve helped some amazing innovators transition from lab to fab, even supporting those with needs too complex or specialized for other foundries to take on. As we continue to build efficiencies and add capabilities in Medford, our expansion to Palm Bay will alleviate capacity constraints. Our goal as a manufacturing partner is to provide a wide variety of services, helping our customers to expedite the commercialization of their technology, and continuing to support them as they scale to meet market demand.”
The company’s expansion will increase the domestic supply of MEMS and sensor devices, which are strategically important across multiple industries. MEMS and sensor devices are not only essential to life-enhancing applications, such as molecular diagnostics and environmental monitoring, but are also strategically important for LiDAR and next-generation defense and aerospace products, the company said.
“Our expansion to Palm Bay is the culmination of a multi-year search for the ideal location to grow our company and the MEMS manufacturing industry,” added Gomez. “The Space Coast is a hub of scientific and technical innovation, which makes it an ideal location for us. We’re equally excited at the level of community support we’ve already received from both the city of Palm Bay and from the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast. We look forward to a long and collaborative relationship.”
Rogue Valley Microdevices has completed its purchase of a commercial building located at 2301 Commerce Drive in Palm Bay. The space will be reconfigured for a cleanroom and office space, with initial production of its first MEMS devices slated for 2025, the company said.
Rogue Valley Microdevices describes itself as “a full-service precision MEMS foundry that combines state-of-the-art process modules with the engineering expertise to go seamlessly from custom design to manufacturing.” The company specializes in MEMS and sensors device manufacturing, including microfluidics and lab-on-chip platforms. It offers “a flexible equipment set and the ability for customers to start with smaller batch sizes, serving a key function in the commercial MEMS manufacturing ecosystem,” according to the release.
Rogue Valley Microdevices also maintains a broad and comprehensive set of wafer services, with more than 50 unique dielectric and conductive thin films. All services are performed in its own class 100 cleanroom, the company said.