Aug. 14, 2001 – Munich, Germany – Osram GmbH will acquire all Infineon Technologies AG shares in their joint venture, Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH & Co. OHG, at a cost of Euro 565 million.
With this acquisition, Osram said, it hopes to strengthen its market position in the field of opto semiconductors, while Infineon said it will focus its resources more strongly on its core business activities. The transaction will take effect immediately.
With the acquisition of the 49 percent of shares held by Infineon, Osram Opto Semiconductors will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Osram. In FY00, ending in September 2000, Osram Opto Semiconductors achieved total sales of Euro 281 million with some 3,600 employees worldwide.
“The sale of our shares in Osram Opto Semiconductors is another important step in optimizing our portfolio,” explained Ulrich Schumacher, president and CEO of Infineon. “This desinvestment 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.”
Wolf-Dieter Bopst, president of Osram, said “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 percent.”
In January 1999 Infineon (formerly Siemens Semiconductors) and Osram formed the joint venture, Osram Opto Semiconductors. Prior to the acquisition, Osram held a 51-percent interest in the joint venture, while Infineon had a 49-percent share. The company offers its clients optoelectronical 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 millimeter, which are used in cars, mobile phones, traffic lights, railway signals and general lighting. Their advantages in comparison with incandescent lamps are their minimum space requirement, low energy consumption, robustness and a service life of up to 100,000 hours.
Osram Opto Semiconductors operates facilities in Regensburg, Germany, San Jose, CA, and Penang, Malaysia. Production is currently being expanded. In June, the foundation stone was laid for a new LED chip factory in Regensburg, which is due to start production at the end of 2002. Capacities for LED assembly in Malaysia were doubled during the current fiscal year. In Malaysia, production of organic light emitting diodes (OLED) is also being established, which will generate first sales in the coming fiscal year.