Siemens Semiconductors And Osram Form Joint Venture To Develop LEDs

The Semiconductor Group of Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich, Germany), and the Siemens subsidiary Osram GmbH (Munich), announced on Nov. 27, 1998, that they will form a joint venture to develop and market optoelectronic semiconductors. Effective Jan. 1, 1999, the venture will open new market segments for semiconductor light sources and will focus on light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a major application in the field.

The joint venture will operate under the name Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH & Co. (OHG; Regensburg, Germany). Osram has a majority interest of 51% in the venture and will assume management of the new company. With a workforce of 2,300, OHG plans to generate DM350 million in sales before Sept. 30, 1999. Its future outlook is bright, as the semiconductor light source market grows 15-20% each year, according to an Osram spokesman.

Rudiger Muller, currently responsible for opto semiconductors at Siemens Semiconductors, will head the new company, and Robert Wittgen, now in charge of corporate planning at Osram, will be head of business administration.

Siemens' Semiconductors Group—the world's third largest optoelectronic semiconductor manufacturer—will contribute its current business in LEDs, infrared components, power lasers, and displays to OHG. These activities also include marketing and development in Regensburg and Cupertino, CA, as well as chip production in Regensburg and assembly in Malaysia. To ensure continuity in customer relations, the joint venture will continue to use sales channels employed by Siemens Semiconductors. Osram will give the joint venture greater access to the market for lighting applications. The lamp manufacturer also has special expertise in electronic lighting systems as well as in materials such as glass and fluorescent substances, which are increasingly being used in LED production.

Measuring only a few tenths of a millimeter, LEDs are based on semiconductor connections that convert current directly to light. Their advantages over many other light sources include lower energy consumption, an extremely long operating life of more than 100,000 hours, and very high impact resistance.

Many new applications have been found for red, yellow, and green LEDs over the last 30 years, for example, in the instrument panels and third brake lights of automobiles. Moreover, researchers have succeeded not only in increasing the brightness of colored LEDs, but also in generating blue and, most notably, white light. This opens up new market opportunities for this light source in the areas of general-purpose lighting, traffic and railway signals, and illuminated displays and signs.

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