High-tech from Regensburg: the world’s most advanced optical chip factory is ready for business

OSRAM has invested hundreds of millions of euros in the new semiconductor plant

State-of-the-art facilities in Regensburg: greater capacity for greater growth.

Source: OSRAM

OSRAM CEO Martin Goetzeler and Dr. Rüdiger Müller, CEO of OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, together with Mayor Hans Schaidinger will today officially open the last section of the Regensburg site. “Since the start of construction seven years ago we have invested hundreds of millions of euros. In this period the number of employees has increased by a good 500 to 1500” said Rüdiger Müller. This expansion has boosted capacity by almost 50%. Today, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors in Regensburg covers an area of more than 55,000m².

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors a technology and world market leader in opto semiconductors - a sector of the lighting industry for which rapid market growth is expected in the next few years.  Already, products based on this technology account for 12 percent of OSRAM's total sales. Martin Goetzeler added: “Light Emitting Diodes are the light sources of the future so we have every intention of expanding in this field, which is why we have invested heavily in expanding the sites in Regensburg and Penang (Malaysia)”. This also applies to research and development, for which investment last year alone amounted to 13 percent of the sales of opto semiconductors.

Leading the field in innovations
The outstanding products developed by OSRAM Opto Semiconductors in its 30 year history have won many awards. The best of all so far came in December 2007 with the award of the German Future Prize for technology and innovation presented by the German President to the researchers Dr. Klaus Streubel and Dr. Stefan Illek (OSRAM) and Dr. Andreas Bräuer (Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering) for the development of thin-film technology.