Our History

Fabrinet was founded in 2000 by David T. (Tom) Mitchell, one of the co-founders of Seagate Technology, as a low-volume, high-mix service provider for the manufacturing of complex optical components. The company set out to serve original equipment manufacturers on a contract basis.

With initial funding from Mr. Mitchell and Hambrecht & Quist Asia, Fabrinet took over the lease of Seagate’s Chokchai, Thailand manufacturing site, making Seagate one of Fabrinet’s first customers.

Fabrinet continued expanding its Asia-based manufacturing hubs over the next 10 years. With the 2005 transfer of JDS Uniphase’s manufacturing operations to Thailand, the company focused on manufacturing components and modules for optical communication systems as well as industrial lasers and sensors. Fabrinet introduced the “factory within a factory” operating model, creating a secure system where customers provided the equipment needed to build their products while Fabrinet provided the labor, logistics, manufacturing, and a supply chain. Fabrinet completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010.

Over the past 20+ years, Fabrinet has become a trusted manufacturing partner for the world’s most demanding OEMs. With over 12,000 employees worldwide, Fabrinet now provides manufacturing, packaging, process technology, and supply chain services to various markets. This includes optical communications, automotive, industrial laser and medical products.

2000
- Founded by Chairman Tom Mitchell, co-founder of Seagate Technology, with acquisition of Seagate facility.
- Producing: HDD components, Passive Optical components
2004
- Acquired Pinehurst Building 3
- Producing: High and Low-volume PCBAs, Automotive MEMS Sensors, Optical modules – OA modules, Passive components , Transceivers , etc.
2005
- Built and Commissioned Pinehurst Building 4
- Producing: Optical components and modules, Transponders, Modulators, ROADMs, etc.
- Acquired Casix (Fuzhou, China) and Vitrocom (Mt. Lake, NJ.)
- Producing: Custom optics, Custom precision glass components and Connectorization solutions
2007
- Built and Commissioned Pinehurst Building 5
- Producing: Industrial and scientific lasers, Medical devices and sensors, Optical modules – High Volume optics component testing, Network Managed subsystems, AOCs, Circuit Packs, DCM, etc.
2010
- Listed on NYSE under “FN”
2012
- Named Toh-Seng Ng as Chief Financial Officer
- Built and Commissioned Pinehurst Building 6
- Producing: Custom silicon photonic components and modules, advanced packaging lab, 100G Telco and Datacomm components and modules, etc.
2015
- Commissioned Fabrinet West (Santa Clara, CA)
- Producing: Prototype, NPI, Low volume PCBA and Box Build, Quick Turn offering Quality, Velocity and Cost
2016
- Commissioned Chonburi Building 8, adding over 500,000 square feet to footprint at 72-acre campus
- PCBAs, Automotive Modules/LIDAR system, Optical Components and Modules, Optical Network Systems, Precision Optical Packaging
- Acquired Fabrinet UK
- NPI – PCBAs, Box build
2017
- Named Seamus Grady as Chief Executive Officer and director
2019
- Commissioned Fabrinet Israel NPI Center
- NPI – PCBA’s, Box Builds and Precision Optical Packaging
2020
- Named Csaba Sverha as Chief Financial Officer
2022
- Commissioned Chonburi Building 9, adding one million square feet to footprint