Infineon Technologies and Osram declare:

OSRAM and Siemens Semiconductors form a joint venture for optoelectronic semiconductors

Major new market opportunities for light-emitting diodes. Effective January 1, 1999, the Semiconductor Group (HL) of Siemens AG, Berlin and Munich and the Munich-based Siemens subsidiary OSRAM GmbH will form a joint venture for optoelectronic semiconductors.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a major application in this field, and the two partners want to pool their competencies to open up new market segments for semiconductor light sources. The activities exclusively pursued by Siemens Semiconductors to date will be assumed by the new joint venture. This step will enable HL, an independent company in the future, to focus on its core business while continuing to enjoy the growing market success of its core business while continuing to enjoy the growing market success of its optoelectronics business. For OSRAM this move into the future-oriented field of LED technology has far-reaching strategic implications: Semiconductors light sources enjoy yearly growth rates of 15 to 20 percent.

Based in Regensburg, the joint venture will operate under the name OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH & Co. (OHG). OSRAM has a majority interest of 51 percent and will assume management of the new company. With a workforce of 2,300, the joint venture plans to generate DM 350 million in sales during its first, incomplete fiscal year (January 1, 1999 to September 30, 1999). Dr. Rüdiger Müller, currently responsible for Opto Semiconductors at Siemens Semiconductors, will head the new company, and Robert Wittgen, now in charge of strategic planning at OSRAM, will be head of business administration.

Siemens’ Semiconductors Group - the world’s third-largest optoelectronic semiconductor manufacturers - will contribute its current business in light-emitting diodes, infrared components, power lasers and displays. These activities also include marketing and development in Regensburg and Cupertino, California, 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 millimetre, light-emitting diodes are based on semiconductor connections which 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 thirty years, for example, in the instrument panels and third brake lights of automobiles. Moreover, researchers have succeeded not only in increasing the brightness of coloured 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.

Siemens’ Semiconductor Group is a leading worldwide provider of integrated circuits, memory products, RF components and discrete and power semiconductors, sensors and fibre optic components. The comprehensive product line of Siemens Semiconductors serves a wide range of customers active in telecommunications, automotive and consumer electronics, data processing and automation. Siemens is the market leader for Chipcard ICs. In fiscal 1997/98, Siemens Semiconductors achieved sales of $ 3.8 billion (DM 6.7 billion) and employed 25,000 people worldwide. The group plans to go public during the year 2000. A overview of the products you will find under: www.infineon.com

OSRAM is one of the three leading lamp manufacturers in the world. With 88 percent of its sales generated outside of Germany it is a global player. Employing about 28,000 people throughout the world OSRAM’s sales in fiscal year 1997/98 reached DM 6.6 billion. The largest division was general lighting: Innovative products such as halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps and metal halide lamps continue to show healthy growth. OSRAM is today the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive lamps and also has a good position in the field of photooptic-lamps and electronic control systems.

Press contact:

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors

Günter Gaugler
Tel: +49-89-234-28481
Fax: 
Email: guenter.gaugler@infineon.com