Business briefs

20 Feb 2004

Including news from Nichia, Palomar Medical Technologies, Jenoptik and more.

•  GaN-based LED and laser maker Nichia of Japan expects to record sales of 220 billion yen ($2.1 billion) during its current fiscal year ending December 31, 2004, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper. This will represent an 18% rise in sales compared with the 180 billion yen ($1.7 billion) that Nichia is expected to record for 2003. Of the 2003 sales figure, about 80% is expected to come from LEDs.

•  Palomar Medical Technologies, US, has been awarded a $2.5 million research contract to develop a light-based device to treat “razor bumps”. Awarded by the US Department of the Army, the nineteen month contract is scheduled to start this month and run through to September 2005.

•  Jenoptik of Germany expects to post sales of EURO 2 billion for fiscal year 2003, up on the previous year’s EURO 1.6 billion mark. Despite anticipating a positive operating income for the year, Jenoptik’s chairman Alexander von Witzleben, expects the company to record a net loss of more than EURO 20 million in fiscal 2003. Jenoptik’s photonics division expects its operating income to match previous projections.

•  Kopin, a US maker of displays and device wafers, has posted a revenue of $76.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2003. This is marginally down on the $76.8 million recorded for 2002. Net loss for 2003 was $6.9 million compared with a net loss of $31.9 million for 2002. The company is optimistic that increased demand for its CyberDisplay product line will fuel growth in 2004.

•  Konarka Technologies, US, has received a five-year, $6 million award from DARPA to develop new materials for use in hybrid solar cells. “Hybrid photovoltaic cells build on the breakthroughs we have already achieved with dye-sensitized cells and polymer cells,” said Russell Gaudiana, Konarka’s vice president of R&D. The company is hoping to develop hybrid cells with efficiencies in excess of 20%.

•  Synrad, US, has announced a new distribution deal with Optoprim of France. The deal will see Optoprim distribute Synrad’s full range of carbon dioxide lasers in France.

•  Future Instrument Fiber Optics (FIFO) of Sweden has appointed 3SAE Technologies, US, as its North American distributor. FIFO makes fiber-optic fusion splicers.