Osram Opens New LED Assembly Plant in China

In a further move to strengthen its leading position in the market for light-emitting diodes (LED), Osram officially opened its LED assembly plant in Wuxi, China. The factory has a floor area of about 100,000 square meters, and will employ as many as 2,100 people by 2017. Osram is investing a low three-digit-million euro amount to set up the plant. The Wuxi plant will be capable of an annual output of up to several billion LEDs. The factory is planned and run by the Osram Opto Semiconductors business unit.

“With this step, we’re not only expanding our fully loaded backend LED capacities but also boosting our presence in the world’s largest single lighting market,” said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG. “Asia, and particularly China, are key growth drivers for the global lighting and therefore the LED industry.”

China accounts for more than 20% of the world’s lighting market and has recorded a fast growth over the past years, particularly in terms of the uptake of LED lighting technologies. The size of the country’s total general illumination market was about €15 billion last year, and is expected to rise to about €23 billion by 2019. The market share of semiconductor-based products such as LEDs is forecast to surge to more than 60% by then compared with only 29% in 2013.