Sanmina was founded by Jure Šola and
Milan Mandarić in 1980 as a printed circuit board manufacturer. It was named after Milan Manadarić's daughters Sandra and Jasmina. During the 1980s, it expanded into manufacturing backplanes and subassemblies for the telecommunications industry. During the 1990s, the company grew, producing complete products for major OEM companies and completing a number of acquisitions. Jure Sola became CEO and Chairman of Sanmina in 1991. The company completed an
initial public offering on
Nasdaq in 1993.
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==