In
a further move to strengthen its leading position in the market for
light-emitting diodes (LED), Osram officially opened its LED assembly plant in
Wuxi, China. The factory has a floor area of about 100,000 square meters and
will employ as many as 2,100 people by 2017.
Osram
is investing a low three-digit-million euro amount to set up the plant. “With
this step, we’re not only expanding our fully loaded backend LED capacities but
also boosting our presence in the world’s largest single lighting market,” said
Wolfgang Dehen, Chief Executive Officer of Osram Licht AG. “Asia, and
particularly China, are key growth drivers for the global lighting and
therefore the LED industry,” he added.
China
accounts for more than 20pc of the world’s lighting market and has recorded a
fast growth over the past years, particularly in terms of the uptake of LED
lighting technologies. The size of the country’s total general illumination
market was about €15 billion last year and is expected to rise to about €23
billion by 2019. The market share of semiconductor-based products such as LEDs
is forecast to surge to over 60pc by then compared with only 29pc in 2013,
according to a company statement.
With
the new LED assembly in Wuxi, Osram will be in an even better position to
address that growth. The contracts for the plant’s location were signed in May
2012, with groundbreaking taking place in August that year.
“Osram’s
new LED assembly plant will play a key role in forging Wuxi’s LED industry
value chain, and we believe operation of the plant will help Wuxi to become one
of the foremost optoelectronic semiconductor bases in China, and even Asia,”
said Wang Quan, Deputy Secretary of Wuxi Party Committee and Mayor of Wuxi.
The
factory is planned and run by the Osram Opto Semiconductors business unit. It
is the company’s second backend site where LED chips are turned into light
sources by assembling them into housings. The other site is located in Penang,
Malaysia. Osram Opto Semiconductors also operates chip production sites
(frontend) in Regensburg, Germany, as well as in Penang. The Wuxi plant will be
capable of an annual output of up to several billion LEDs.
“Our
business has always been a global business, and taking into account the size
and growth prospects of the Chinese market, Wuxi is a perfect fit for our
manufacturing footprint,” said Aldo Kamper, CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors,
adding that “The plant will help us to further develop our professional
know-how and understanding of our customers’ products to create even more added
value for them.”
Osram
has been active in the opto semiconductor business for more than 40 years and
today develops and manufactures LED components for industrial applications,
entertainment electronics, the automotive sector and general lighting. The
product range also includes infrared diodes and semiconductor-based lasers.
Osram Opto Semiconductors is headquartered in Regensburg and employs more than
7,000 people worldwide.
Source: Osram /
Picture courtesy Osram: Inside the Osram LED assembly plant in Wuxi, China