2021-05-17

Optimistic about the Automotive LED Market, ams / OSRAM is Optimizing Product Portfolio to Meet Customer Needs

According to TrendForce analysis, global automotive market demand has been experiencing an upswing since 4Q20 and remained at high level in 2Q21. In this context, LED manufacturers achieve full capacity and prolong the lead time of products without raising prices. On orders about new automobiles, despite that customers still ask for price reduction, LED manufacturers maintained the original quotation and continue observing the possibility of double booking.   According to ams / OSRAM, the production lines in Malaysia is operating in full capacity and demand overb...
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2021-05-06

ams Reports Robust First Quarter Group Results Driven by Healthy Demand ...

ams reports robust first quarter group results driven by healthy demand, historical ams business revenues in upper half and adj. operating margin near top end of expected range; full integration underway with increased expected total synergies and savings, group to be known as “ams OSRAM”; second quarter expected group revenues of USD 1,430-1,530 million; delisting offer for OSRAM shares   Premstaetten, Austria, and Munich, Germany (4 May 2021) -- ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor solutions, reports robust fir...
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2021-05-06

ams to Launch Delisting Offer for OSRAM

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION (IN WHOLE OR IN PART) IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION ams to launch delisting offer for OSRAM Attractive offer price of €52.30 per OSRAM share Four week acceptance period expected to run from around 21 May to around 18 June 2021 Significant premium to cash com...
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2020-11-12

ams Spectral Sensing Technology Chosen by Optical Metrology Specialist ELDIM for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Professional Rapid Testing

News facts: Rapid test results will be available in 40 minutes and not only limited to a professional healthcare environment Miniaturization of isothermal amplification technology to detect the virus without use of additional equipment ams AS7341L spectral sensor allows reliable spectrally resolved read out of amplified RNA of the virus particles  ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide supplier of high performance sensor solutions, provides the latest sensor technology to ELDIM, a France-based provider of optical metrology technology and rela...
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2020-09-23

Osram and AMS Sign Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement, Getting Closer to Case Close

The deal of Austria sensor company buying Osram is moving one more step forward as Osram announced that it has agreed with ams on the conclusion of a domination and profit and loss transfer agreement. In this regard, the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board of Osram adopted resolutions to sign the agreement with ams Offer GmbH and to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting for November 3, 2020 in which, inter alia, a resolution is to be tabled to approve Osram’s entry into the agreement. Base on the agreement, minority shareholders of Osram will receive an...
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2020-09-18

AMS Introduces Blood Oxygen Monitoring Sensor Enabling Innovative Wearable Applications

ams revealed an ultra-thin sensor dedicated sensor for blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurement, bringing the capability to remotely monitor this vital sign to small consumer products such as earbuds, smart watches and wristbands, as well as to medical devices such as patches and oximeters. The new AS7038RB SpO2 sensor enables innovative applications in remote diagnostic equipment, such as disposable patches used for SpO2 and electro-cardiogram (ECG) measurement in hospital emergency rooms. In addition, ams also indicated that there are increasing evidence suggesting l...
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2020-08-25

Ibeo to Deliver New LiDAR Sensor Based on AMS’ VCSEL Technology

German LiDAR sensor company Ibeo Automotive Systems announced that it will begin delivery of its new ibeoNEXT LiDAR sensor starting in October 2020. The sensor is based on a completely new type of photon laser measurement technology and works completely without moving parts (real solid-state). One of the key component of the product is VCSEL provided by AMS. (Image: Ibeo) Developed in-house by Ibeo and manufactured in accordance with automotive series production standards, the new LiDAR sensor is suitable for driver assistance systems as well as for a...
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2020-08-07

Ibeo Adopts AMS’ VCSEL for Its Solid-State LiDAR to Support Automotive Manufacturer Great Wall Motor

AMS and Ibeo Automotive Systems confirm that ams VCSEL technology is a core component of Ibeo’s new solid-state LiDAR solution, ibeoNEXT. Ibeo’s LiDAR system will be used in Level-3 automated driving on production vehicles at Great Wall Motor Company starting in 2022. The VCSEL manufacturing technology of ams allows for flexibility in layout design regarding number of pixels, their size and pitch, and specific addressability patterns. The VCSELs can differentiate in scan and flash applications as they are less sensitive to individual e...
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2020-08-05

AMS Supplies Spectral Sensor to Create Rapid Test for COVID-19

Sensing technologies have been wide adopted for applications that aim to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Several solutions used LiDAR sensors to keep social distance between people or to control people flow based on object detecting. Spectral sensing, on the other hand, can be applied for medical testing for COVID-19 virus. Austrian sensor expert AMS recently announced its collaboration with two German medical companies for such applications. AMS said that it is providing its AS7341L spectral sensor to midge medical, a German medical technology startup from B...
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2020-07-30

Osram Reports Expectable FY3Q20 Financial Results and Includes Supervisory Board Members from AMS

Osram announced the financial results of its fiscal 3Q20. The German company said that the performance was better than expected compared to the main sales markets. For Osram’s FY 3Q20, its revenue on a comparable basis fell by 29.4% YoY to EUR 606 million (US$ 711.95 million) due to the impact of the Coronavirus crisis. EBITDA before special items was well above expectations with negative EUR 27 million (US$ 31.75 million). Osram’s Automotive business unit was impacted the most with on-year sales dropped by 35.7% to EUR 282 million (US$ ...
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2020-07-08

AMS’ Acquisition of Osram Approved by the EU Commission

Since the Austrian sensing company AMS won the bid of Osram in December 2019, it has been a long journey for it to complete the acquisition of the German company. Finally, on July 6, AMS announced that it has received unconditional regulatory approval from the EU commission for the acquisition of Osram and is going to close the takeover on July 9, 2020. As the acquisition announced last year, it was stated that the merger would be subject to antitrust and foreign trade approvals by the EU. In the press release of the EU Commission, the Commission concluded that ...
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2020-03-25

AMS Plans to Complete Osram Transition in 2Q20 and Reveal 1Q20 Financial Expectations with COVID-19 Assessment

Sensor solution supplier AMS updated the progress of its acquisition of Osram and reported its financial expectations for the first quarter of 2020 after assessing the COVID-19 situation. (Image: AMS) After AMS started its takeover process for Osram since December 2019 and reported further update that the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020. The Austrian sensor maker is processing its EUR 1.65 billion (US$1.78 billion) rights issues for the takeover and noted that they only require “the receipt of the required regulatory approvals&rd...
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2020-03-18

AMS Introduces World’s Smallest IR Flood Illuminator for 3D Face Scan

Sensor solution provider AMS debuted a new IR flood illuminator module, Merano Hybrid, which integrates the laser emitter, laser driver, optical stack and eye-safety monitoring to enhance 3D sensing capabilities for mobile products. (Image: AMS) The highly power-efficient 2W Merano-Hybrid is suitable for use in the latest 3D sensing technologies, including the Time-of-Flight and Structured Light methods. Applications such as face recognition, augmented reality, 3D object scanning and 3D image rendering, as well as other industrial and automotive applications, w...
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2020-03-09

Osram CFO Ingo Bank Moves to AMS

After the acquisition of Osram by ams, the two companies are accelerating their integration. Last Friday, Osram announced that its CFO Ingo Bank will become CFO of ams on May 1, 2020 following the latest appointment. (Ingo Bank; image: Osram) Austria-based sensor and semiconductor expert ams has successfully launched a takeover offer for all the outstanding shares of OSRAM in 2019. Together the two companies agreed to possibly expand the number of ams board members through the course of the acquisition with the appointment of an Osram board member. At Osra...
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2020-02-19

Osram Pushes Efficiency Program and Accelerate Transformation

After reporting a robust financial result for its Fiscal 1Q20, Osram further announced a better than expected performance of its efficiency programs. The German company said that thanks to the increased efficiency and the initiated measures, its savings target will increase from its original target of EUR 220 million (US$ 237.5 million) euros to EUR 300 million (US$ 323.87 million) by 2022. The cumulative impact of several individually-led programs across Osram business units has resulted in beating expectations with regards to savings. Together, they have already suc...
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2019-12-31

TrendForce 2020 Infrared Sensing Application Market Trend- Mobile 3D Sensing, LiDAR and Driver Monitoring System

According to the latest report by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, titled 2020 Infrared Sensing Application Market Trend- Mobile 3D Sensing, LiDAR and Driver Monitoring System, Over 10 types of high-end smartphones are expected to use 3D sensing solutions and some of them will expand the use of 3D sensing in the front and rear cameras in 2020, which will further increase the VCSEL market value. According to TrendForce, the VCSEL market scale used for 3D sensing in mobile devices will be likely to grow by 30% in 2020. Smartphone brands wi...
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2019-12-09

AMS Succeeds in Osram Buyout with Second Bid

Austrian sensor company AMS has successfully takeover Osram with its EUR 4.6 billion (US$5.9 billion) bid in the second attempt by achieving the acceptance threshold of 55% of share. Both AMS and Osram published the final result on December 6, 2019. AMS first offered Osram a bid at EUR 38.5 per share (US$ 42.6) in July, 2019 and raised the price to EUR 41 per share later in October to compete with other bidder. However, the first takeover failed as AMS did not achieve the minimum acceptance threshold of 62.5%. The sensor specialist soon launched new...
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2019-10-21

AMS Launches New Takeover Offer to Osram with Same Price and Lower Acceptance Rate

AMS re-approached Osram with a new bidding offer launched on October 18. With the new offer, the Austrian company aims to acquire Osram with a price of EUR 41 (US$ 46) per share with the minimum acceptance rate of 55%. The sensor maker failed the first attempt to takeover Osram in the beginning of October as it did not reach the minimum acceptance threshold of 62.5%. Within two weeks, AMS keeps its words of continuing the acquisition plan and proposed the new offer with the same price of EUR 41 per share but a lower acceptance rate of 55%. The offer values Osram w...
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2019-10-05

AMS Fails to Takeover Osram but Aims to Continue Acquisition

AMS failed to complete its Osram takeover plan despite that it has raised the bid to EUR 4.5 billion (US$ 4.9 billion) with the price of EUR 41 (US$ 45) per share. However, the sensor maker said that it will continue pursuing the acquisition of Osram. AMS reported on October 4 that it did not reach the minimum acceptance threshold of 62.5% required for completing Osram takeover. Instead, the final acceptances level was 51.6% including its direct shareholding of 20%, making AMS the current largest shareholder of Osram. The sensor company, however, still sees...
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2019-10-03

AMS to Reveal the Result of Osram Takeover after Offer Price Increased

AMS is going to announce the result of Osram’s takeover bid on October 3 after it reported that it is holding 19.99% of all Osram shares on October 1 as a direct shareholding, before the offer expired at midnight. The sensor maker targeted for a minimum of 62.5% shareholding to win the bid against Bain and Advent. The consortium of Bain Capital and Advent reported their interests of joining the bidding with a better offer on September 26, which pushed AMS to raise its offer price from EUR 38.5 (US$ 42.17) per share to EUR 41 (US$ 44.91) on September 27...
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2019-09-26

Osram Bidding War Goes on with Bain and Advent to Raise Takeover Offer

Osram announced on September 25 that “the courtship” of the company continues as Bain Capitan and its new partner, Advent, are in talk with Osram with its willingness to make a new takeover for the German high tech company, confronting sensor maker AMS. According to Osram, the consortium of Advent and Bain Capital has indicated that “it may offer a ‘meaningful’ premium over the current offer from AMS of EUR 38.50 (US$42.14) per share.” The new bidders also said that their binding offer will be superior not only in terms of price ...
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2019-09-17

Osram Board Support AMS Offer while Union against the Takeover

After AMS confirmed the takeover offer of Osram, the German lighting company is facing internal conflicts regarding the acquisition. The Austrian sensor company published a public takeover offer of EUR 38.50 per share to acquire Osram. The German company announced yesterday (September 16) that its Executive Board and the majority of its Supervisory Board recommended the shareholders to accept the offer from “a financial point of view.” However, employee representatives of Osram oppose the takeover offer with the concern of potential job losses as AMS ...
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2019-09-05

Osram Shareholders to Decide on AMS’ Takeover Offer before October 2019

After Osram agreed to waive the standstill agreement with AMS, the Austrian company made a counter offer with the price of EUR 38.5 per share in cash to take over the German firm on September 3, 2019. Shareholders of Osram have an acceptance period until October 2019 to decide on the acquisition plan. The offer of AMS raised a bidding war with Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group, who proposed a takeover offer of EUR 35 per share to acquire Osram. AMS underlined that “our offer and the combination of Osram and AMS represents a better option to all sta...
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2019-08-22

Osram Waives Standstill Agreement with AMS

Osram announced that its Managing Board and Supervisory Board have waived the existing standstill agreement with AMS and signed a cooperation agreement. This clears the way for a voluntary public takeover offer by AMS. The offer, which is expected to be valid until the beginning of October, amounts to EUR 38.50 (US$ 42.70 ) in cash per share, with a minimum acceptance level of 70 percent. Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM, commented, “Our shareholders now have two offers on the table, allowing them to choose between the different business concepts.” ...
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2019-08-15

Osram and AMS under Constructive Negotiation

Osram said that it has begun talking with AMS on a Business Combination Agreement since August 13, aiming a publication of AMS' takeover offer before the end of September 5. According to Osram, both parties will continue to carefully assess the details the agreement and hope to reach the common goal that ams will be able to start its tender period during the offer period of the existing takeover offer from the financial investors Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group, thus before the end of September 5, 2019. AMS submitted the proposal to Osram on October 11...
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2019-08-13

Osram Confirms AMS’ EUR 4.3 Billion Proposal and Starts Negotiation

Sensor maker AMS officially joined the bidding competition for Osram takeover against Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group. Osram confirmed the proposal from AMS on August 12 and will start negotiations with AMS. AMS announced on August 11 that it has submitted a takeover proposal to Osram at a price of EUR 38.50 per share (US$ 43.08), which is 10 percent higher than the price offered by Bain and Carlyle (EUR 35 per share). Based on the AMS’ offer, the value of Osram is around EUR 4.3 billion (US$ 4.81 billion).   The sensor maker a...
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2019-07-25

AMS Reconsiders Osram Takeover Plan

Sensor maker ams once again changed its mind for the Osram takeover plan. The company said on July 23rd that decided to re-evaluate a potential transaction with Osram after ams talked with its potential financial partners. ams reported last week that it did not see “sufficient basis” for continuous talking with Osram one day after the German company announced in public ams’ takeover approach. ams has proposed an offer of EUR 38.5 (US$42.9) per share for acquiring Osram. However, the Austrian company now said that after discussion with potential financial p...
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2019-07-16

AMS Withdraws Takeover Offer to Osram within One Day due to “Insufficient Basis”

Osram announced that it Austrian company ams has approached with the interest of a public takeover of Osram with a value of EUR 38.50 (US$ 43.36) per share. However, right after Osram’s announcement, ams decided to withdraw the offer as the company did not see “sufficient basis” for continually talking with Osram. According to Osram, ams showed the interest of acquiring Osram by EUR 38.5 per share. The announcement noticed that to support the offer, ams will need a temporary bridge-loan facility of EUR 4.2 billion (US$ 4.73 billion) and a capital i...
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2019-07-05

ams and SmartSens Partner on 3D and NIR Sensors

Sensor component maker ams announced its partnership with SmartSens Technology, a Shanghai/Sillicon Valley-based CMOS image sensors maker, to collaborate in the field of Image Sensors. ams said that this collaboration complements its strategic approach to further broaden its portfolio for all three 3D technologies, including Active Stereo Vision (ASV), Time-of-Flight (ToF) and Structured Light (SL). To quickly meet an expected increasing demand for 3D sensing solutions in mobile devices, the partnership’s initial focus will be on 3D Near Infrared (N...
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2019-05-21

ams Partners Ibeo and ZF to Deliver LiDAR Technology for Autonomous Driving

Austria-based sensor developer ams announces that it has signed an agreement to team with Ibeo Automotive Systems, the German specialist for automotive LiDAR sensor technology, and ZF Friedrichshafen, automotive technology developer, to advance LiDAR technology for use in autonomous driving and other applications. The three companies will partner on joint R&D efforts to ensure that this exciting technology can be quickly and safely adopted by 2021. (Image: ams) ams will provide automotive-grade VCSEL arrays and drivers for solid-state LiDAR illumination...
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JBD, a pioneering MicroLED display manufacturer, has set a new standard with its Phoenix series microdisplay, achieving an industry-record white-balanced brightness of 2 million nits. JBD’s Phoenix - Native Monolithic RGB Panel Leveragin... READ MORE

Veeco Instruments Inc. today announced that PlayNitride, an industry leader in MicroLED technology, has qualified Veeco’s Lumina® MOCVD system for production of next-generation MicroLEDs, and also placed an order for two systems for ... READ MORE