The wide-spread availability of low-cost RFID tags is vital to the continued rapid adoption of this truly transformative technology.

     Alien Technology Corp. today officially opened a 48,000-square foot manufacturing center in Fargo, North Dakota, which has the capacity to manufacture 2 billion UHF RFID tags annually. It''s expected to be able to produce 10 billion tags per year in the future.

     "The wide-spread availability of low-cost RFID tags is vital to the continued rapid adoption of this truly transformative technology," said Bob Eulau, acting CEO, Alien Technology, which is based in Morgan Hill, Calif. "The result of six years of RFID manufacturing R&D and expertise, the Alien Fargo Manufacturing Center greatly enhances our ability to meet the mounting demand for affordable, high-quality tags and to help drive further RFID market growth worldwide."

     Over a typical 10 year RFID project life cycle, RFID tags typically represent 70% of an end user''s total project expense, said Alien Technology in a statement. To drive costs lower, Alien and other tag manufacturers have been investing in technologies and processes. Alien''s new facility will encompass the use of an advanced Micro Electronic Mechanical System (MEMS) fab for silicon processing, and a proprietary process for removing dies from silicon wafers that enables Alien to obtain 20% more RFID chips (NanoBlock ICs) per wafer.

                                                                                                                        Extract From Industry Week