Osram opens new optoelectronics chip factory
Work began on the facility in July 2001. The fab, which has a cleanroom floor area of 3300 square meters (35,500 square feet), is built on a 9 acre site with space for further expansion.
At the opening ceremony on April 7, Wolf-Dieter Bopst, president of Osram, said "This will give us the platform to become number one [in optoelectronic semiconductors] in the medium term in this dynamic growth market." Market research institutes expect optoelectronic semiconductors to register annual growth rates in double figures.
Osram has invested around Euro 120 million ($129 million) in the new factory and will create about 500 new jobs in the medium term. The company already has a highly trained workforce in Regensburg engaged in the production of optoelectronic chips, and says that the region also has a good supply of well-trained workers.
Osram has an existing chip production facility in Regensburg-West, which was unable to cope with the company s plans for capacity expansion. The two factories will now work in parallel until the entire operation transfers to the new site in two years time.
Osram is the second largest lamp manufacturer in the world, and sees LEDs as a strategically important technology for the future of the lighting industry. Osram s subsidiary, Osram Opto Semiconductors, has sites in Regensburg, San Jose, USA and Penang, Malaysia, as well as Regensburg.
Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Osram GmbH and the Siemens Semiconductor Division (now Infineon Technologies AG). In the summer of 2001, Osram GmbH took over all the shares of Osram Opto Semiconductors. Osram and Infineon continued to operate a joint venture to sell optoelectronic semiconductors.
On April 1, 2003, Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH took over the worldwide sales activities for its optoelectronic semiconductor products from Infineon.
