From the first surface-mountable LED (TOPLED) in 1990 to the awarding of the Deutscher Zukunftspreis (German Future Prize) by the German Federal President in 2007 and the efficiency record for red high-power LEDs in 2011: 40 years of business with opto semiconductors at Osram's Regensburg plant has brought countless seminal achievements in the fields of lighting, visualization and sensor technology. Just in time for this jubilee, the current fiscal year will see Osram Opto Semiconductors achieving total revenue of over 1 billion euros for the first time in company history. "LED technology is the growth driver of the entire lighting market. In the age of digital light, intelligent solutions help us to achieve a better quality of life, higher productivity and highest energy efficiency. Four decades of established LED expertise at Osram give us a clear advantage in the market," said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG.

Osram can look back on 40-year success story in the development of optical semiconductors. This image provides a glimpse of the laboratory where high-power red LEDs are tested.

Siemens first started building a manufacturing plant for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in Regensburg back in 1973. With a workforce of over 7,000 worldwide, Osram's Opto Semiconductors business unit currently develops and manufactures LED components for industrial applications, entertainment electronics, the automotive sector and general lighting. The product range also includes infra-red diodes and semiconductor-based lasers. In the previous fiscal year, the Opto Semiconductor business unit achieved total revenue of almost 900 million euros. Fuelled by the accelerating trend towards semiconductor-based light sources, the business unit for LED components will achieve a historical sales record in the current fiscal year. “Thanks to a high demand across all customer sectors, our sales have now reached the 1 billion euro mark for the first time ever,” said Aldo Kamper, CEO of the Osram sector. “I would like to thank the entire team, for this is a great achievement, particularly considering the strong competition and the ongoing decline in prices.”

In this picture an employee loads an exposure mask. At Osram Opto Semiconductors, Regensburg, semiconductors have been manufactured in clean-room conditions for as many as 40 years.

Apart from its innovation and manufacturing site in Regensburg, Opto Semiconductors also operates its own chip factory in Penang (Malaysia). The LED chips are assembled in their housings in Penang, too. It is only then that the chips become light sources. Osram is currently constructing another LED assembly plant in the Chinese town of Wuxi to gear up for the growing demand for LEDs, particularly in Asia.
 

Osram Opto Semiconductors in Regensburg.