Technical Insight
Furukawa Electric plans two new plants (News from Japan)
Furukawa Electric plans to boost production of components used for WDM systems, citing a continued increase in demand in the medium term despite indications of slowing growth in the US fiber-optic market. To meet this demand, it plans to invest about 10.2 billion ($89 million) to build new production facilities in Japan and Thailand. Furukawa recently invested 3 billion ($26 million) to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Thailand, including a production facility with 10 000 m2 of floor space. This summer, the Furukawa Fitel Thailand unit will start producing fiber-optic components including source and pump lasers, as well as fiber Bragg gratings. The company expects to manufacture 100 000 pump lasers per month, with sales expected to reach $300 million in 2002. Furukawa will also spend 7.2 billion ($63 million) to build a second facility and an engineering center at its Chiba plant in Japan.
