FORM

What You Should Know

FormFactor, Inc. is a publicly-traded company that designs and manufactures probe cards, analytical probers, and test-and-measurement systems used by semiconductor makers to test integrated circuits during wafer fabrication and to characterize advanced devices. Designing and selling semiconductor test equipment is a general-purpose technology activity that is unambiguously permissible at the activity level under standard Sharia methodology; FormFactor earns product and service revenue rather than interest. The company maintains a strong, low-leverage balance sheet with a net-cash position, so it comfortably passes the debt-to-market-cap screen; the primary financial-screen consideration is the interest income generated by its cash and investments, a small portion of which should be purified. Subject to verifying ratios at the time of investment, most major Sharia advisory boards classify FormFactor as permissible with purification of small interest-income components.