Business briefs

08 Oct 2004

Including news from Corning, Laser Components, Sharp, Osram, IPG Laser and more.

General company news:

•  Corning is spending an additional $326 million on expanding its LCD glass substrate manufacturing facility currently under construction in Taichung, Taiwan. The company announced that it was ploughing $750 million into the expansion in July this year. The Taichung facility will make generation 5.5, 6 and larger glass substrates.

•  Sharp claims it has developed the world's largest color LCD TV. Measuring 65-inches, the panel features 1920 x 1080 RGB pixels. Sharp says it is considering releasing LCD TVs 50-inches and larger in fiscal 2005.

•  Osram Opto Semiconductors, Germany, says that American Semiconductor, US, will not import or market LEDs supplied by Malaysian firm Dominant Semiconductors. The firm is the second American distributor to take this action following Osram's legal challenge against Dominant for infringement of patent rights. Recently, a Taiwanese company also gave an assurance that it would only use licensed products.

•  Osram, US, has renamed its photo-optic division. The new 'display/optic' division will be organized into four business units: display systems, entertainment, cinema, and semiconductor and medical. "This reorganization will put us closer to the market so we can react more quickly to customer needs," said division head Siegmar Proebstl.

Acquisitions and contracts:

•  Defense specialist Raytheon has acquired fellow US firm Photon Research Associates (PRA). PRA makes modeling, simulation and analysis products for remote sensing, missile defense and surveillance. The move is expected to strengthen Raytheon's capabilities in business areas such intelligence and homeland security.

•  Spire of the US is to provide a photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing line to Solaria Energia y Medio Ambiente of Spain. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

Distribution:

•  Laser Components of Germany has signed a distribution agreement with US-based Advanced Photonix Inc. (API) covering Germany, Austria and Switzerland. API's product range covers Si-PIN photodiodes, quadrant diodes and arrays, as well as large area Si-avalanche photodiodes.

•  IPG Laser of Germany, a maker of high power fibre lasers, has appointed HM Laser as a new distributor in China. Formed 10 years ago, HM Laser is now one of the leading integrators of laser systems in China.