Light for illumination: to be able to see, to work by and to go about our daily lives. But what about the light needed for indication - to tell us when something is on, or working, or if there is a fault condition. From being able to illuminate a dark room, to being able to pump light pulses at incredibly high speed down ultra-thin glass fibres for communication, the joint venture of Infineon Technologies AG and Osram GmbH encompasses these applications.
But there have been moves to focus core business activities of each concern to best be able to capture and strengthen market shares. In Munich, on 14 August - Osram acquired all Infineon Technologies' shares in its joint venture, Osram Opto Semiconductors. With this acquisition, Osram will strengthen its market position in the dynamic field of opto-semiconductors, while Infineon will focus its resources more strongly on its core business activities.
"The sale of our shares in Osram Opto Semiconductors is another important step in optimising our portfolio," explained Dr Ulrich Schumacher, President and CEO of Infineon Technologies. "This disinvestment and the sale of the infrared components business allows us to further concentrate on our communication segments, such as local and wide area networks and network access within our wireline communications group."
Dr Wolf-Dieter Bopst, President of Osram: "This acquisition is a milestone within the scope of our innovation strategy: Osram is transforming itself from a traditional manufacturer of lightbulbs into a high-tech company. A major factor of this is the determined expansion of our business with semiconductor light sources. With this key technology we are participating in a dynamic market with annual growth rates of 20%."
The company offers its clients opto-electronic semiconductors and today holds the number two position in the world market. The most well-known products are light emitting diodes (LED) measuring only a few tenths of a millimetre, which are used in cars, mobile phones, traffic lights, railway signals and general lighting. Osram Opto Semiconductors operates facilities in Regensburg (Germany), San Jose (USA) and Penang (Malaysia). Production is currently being greatly expanded: In June, the foundation stone was laid for a new LED chip factory in Regensburg, due to start production at end 2002. Capacities for LED assembly in Malaysia were doubled during the current fiscal year. Here, production of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) is also being established, which will generate first sales in the coming fiscal year.
On a 40 000 m2 site in Regensburg-Burgweinting, Osram Opto Semiconductors is building a factory for fabricating chips for LEDs, laser diodes and sensors. The current site at Regensburg-West is no longer large enough to cope with the rapid growth in demand. Initial plans are to run the two factories in parallel and switch production to the new site later. Osram is investing in Regensburg primarily because there are so many highly skilled workers in its catchment area. For LED chip fabrication it is also important that the factory should be close to the development department - already located in Regensburg.
Opto-electronic semiconductors convert electrical energy directly into light (LEDs are the most common devices) or light into electrical energy. Dr Bopst continues: "Optical semiconductors will revolutionise the world of light. We are already active on the future technologies market, for example with display lighting for mobile communications or for intelligent traffic control. LEDs last longer, are much smaller, rugged and more economical than incandescent lamps."
The need for such increased production capacity results from the wider application and proliferation of LED devices in consumer electronics, traffic signals, electronic road signs, car light clusters and large outdoor display boards. Another indicator as to the need for this expansion, is in the lead times required in order to receive shipments of even standard LEDs - this sometimes as long as 35 weeks, much reminiscent of the dreaded times of allocation experienced in the last 18 months! Another factor recently, is the sometimes low production yields with some of the new exotic colours and intensities of LEDs - more specifically the white, blue and pure colours, especially in hyper-bright forms.
The rapid construction of the new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility will go a long way in maintaining the highly 'visible' presence of Osram LEDs in all electronic developments, as well as alleviating the lead time strain experienced by developers and improving the quality and therefore the yield of the currently desirable colours and intensities.
In South Africa, Siemens Components, via its official distributor, Electrocomp, is in the unique position of being the local presence for Infineon Technologies' semiconductor products and, by the above association, also of the Osram range of optoelectronics.
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