SANMINA-SCI CORP

Sanmina Corporation is an American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in communications and computer hardware fields. The firm has nearly 80 manufacturing sites, and is one of the world’s largest independent manufacturers of printed circuit boards and backplanes. As of 2026, it is ranked number 471 in the Fortune 500 list.

History

Sanmina was founded by Jure Sola and Milan Mandarić in 1980 as a manufacturer of printed circuit boards. It later expanded into manufacturing backplanes and backplane subassemblies. By 1989 the company's revenue had grown to around $60 million and it was focused on providing electronics manufacturing services for several customers in the telecommunications industry. That year, Sola led a management buy-out of his co-founder's share in the company with investment from Morgan Stanley and became its president. In 1991, Sola became Sanmina's chairman and CEO.

In the 1990s original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) had increasingly begun outsourcing production to firms like Sanmina. Sola was able to grow the company in the early 1990s by focusing on providing contract manufacturing, and Sanmina established itself as an electronics manufacturer for OEMs. The company increased its annual revenue by more than $20 million over the 5 years following the management buy-out. In February 1993, the company went public.

Merger and name changes

In December 2001, Sanmina merged with SCI Systems of Huntsville, Alabama, for $6 billion in cash, stock, and debt. Although Sanmina was only half as large as SCI at the time, it was in a better cash position because its core telecommunications business was performing well, whereas SCI's lower-margin businesses such as personal computer manufacturing, were struggling. Shortly after, Sanmina-SCI bought E-M Solutions, a bankrupt Fremont, California electronics manufacturer, for $110 million in cash. Then in early 2002, Sanmina acquired Rancho Santa Margarita-based Viking Interworks for $15 million ($10.9 million in cash and 390,000 shares of Sanmina stock worth $10.26 per share at the time).

On November 15, 2012, the company changed its name to Sanmina.

On July 2, 2015, the company announced that it had acquired the CertainSource Technology Group.

Change of leadership

Bob Eulau replaced co-founder Jure Sola becoming the CEO effective October 2, 2017. After this change, Sola assumed the role of Executive Chairman of the Board . Hartmut Liebel assumed the role of CEO in October, 2019. Jure Sola returned again as CEO in August 2020.

Operations

In 2015, the San Jose, California-based company had 38,417 employees in over 27 countries on six continents. It serves clients in the fields of communications, computing, multimedia, semiconductors, defense, aerospace, medical applications, and automotive technology. It provides consulting, design, engineering, logistics, new product introduction, assembly, machining, and fabrication, to produce printed circuit boards, backplanes, electrical cables, injection-molded plastics, enclosures and frames, optics.

On May 11, 2018, Ather Energy, announced it had entered into an agreement with the company to develop and manufacture key components for its maiden scooter and production would take place in the company's facility in Chennai, India.

On March 3, 2021, Astrotech Corporation announced that its Astrotech Technologies, Inc. subsidiary has entered into an agreement with Sanmina Corporation to manufacture its mass spectrometry products. As part of the relationship, Sanmina will manufacture 1st Detect’s TRACER 1000. They have also agreed to manufacture AgLAB’s AgLAB-1000 and BreathTech’s BreathTest-1000 once those products are officially released.

Lawsuits

In 2023, it became known that Sanmina was engaged in ongoing litigation with its former partner, Dialight, concerning the termination of their manufacturing services agreement.

In 2024, the claims against Sanmina for fraudulent inducement proceeded to trial after a New York court rejected Sanmina’s bid to dismiss Dialight’s fraud allegations.