EM4 and Bookham target homeland security
Bookham (San Jose, CA) signed a cooperation agreement with EM4 (Bedford, MA) and its wholly owned subsidiary EM4 Defense. Under the agreement, EM4 will be the primary market channel for the Bookham high-power pump-laser business into the U.S. defense, aerospace, and homeland security market.
“This is a highly synergistic partnership,” said Steve Turley, chief commercial officer at Bookham. “It delivers what the U.S. defense, aerospace, and homeland-security market needs by combining our leading semiconductor laser technology with EM4’s U.S.-based high-performance packaging capability.”
International Light merges two divisions
A newly formed company, International Light Technologies (Peabody, MA), announced that its divisions, Gilway Technical Lamp, a manufacturer and distributor of technical light sources and systems, and International Light, a manufacturer of light measurement equipment, would combine their resources and consolidate their operations at one facility in Peabody, MA. Both companies previously had operated as separate corporations.
Each company will continue to manufacture and market its pre-existing product lines. By sharing the new facility, Gilway will be able to draw on the technical expertise of International Light in light detection, measurement, and calibration, while International Light will have access to Gilway’s expertise in UV-Visible-IR lamps, LEDs, lighting assemblies, and modules.
Veeco group to focus on HB-LED market
To maximize growth opportunities in the data storage and HB-LED industries, Veeco Instruments (Woodbury, NY) has formed a Process Equipment Group. “Our Process Equipment Group is a $225 million per year world leader in deposition and etch technologies, focused on the high-growth data-storage and high-brightness-LED markets,” said Edward H. Braun, chairman and CEO of Veeco. “We expect revenue growth in this business to exceed 15% in 2006, as market demand for converged consumer electronics with embedded storage and high-brightness LED backlit displays broadens, and Veeco introduces new process-equipment solutions aligned to each market. In HB-LED our customers’ roadmaps are demanding brighter films and higher levels of throughput. Veeco is uniquely focused on meeting these technology and productivity requirements on a worldwide basis.”
Shenzhen Century Epitech builds laser unit
According to Asia Pulse (Rhodes, Australia), a business news and intelligence service covering 30 Asian countries, Shenzhen Century Epitech (Beijing, China) has been approved to launch a semiconductor laser unit project in Guangming High-tech Industry Park, Shenzhen City. The company plans to introduce primary equipment from overseas, including the single-crystal growth furnace, cutterbar, grinder, and inspection equipmen. The project, costing a total of about $37.2 million dollars, is scheduled for completion by 2007, with a projected annual output of 20 million semiconductors.
StockerYale realigns operations
In an effort to accelerate growth in certain key areas and reduce overall costs, StockerYale (Salem, NH) is implementing a realignment of operations into three core growth businesses: lasers, LEDs, and specialty optical fiber. The company says it will either sell to management or exit certain mature components of its product lines, specifically fiberoptic illumination, galvanometers, and its Singapore subsidiary.
StockerYale provides lasers, LEDs, and other illumination products to OEMs in the automotive, semiconductors, and wood-processing industries. Sales in the fourth quarter 2005 were around $5.0 million, an increase of approximately 19% over the fourth quarter in 2004. The growth in revenues was led by increased specialty optical-fiber revenues, but also by a 21% increase in laser sales.
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Also in the news . . .
Biolase Technology, a manufacturer of laser technologies for applications in dentistry and medicine, is moving its corporate headquarters to Irvine, CA, to increase square footage by 54% . . . . Quanta Technologies (Tucson, AZ) launched its new Web site, QuantaWeb.com, a laser technology portal designed to be a gathering place for the aesthetic and medical laser community. . . . Sherwood Technology (Cheshire, England) has changed its name to DataLase, the name of its process that uses a combination of color change chemistry and low-power laser light in marking applications. . . . Laser manufacturer Cymer (San Diego, CA) celebrated its 20th anniversary by pledging $175,000 to the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). . . . . . The Firecomms (Cork, Ireland) fiberoptic transceiver (FOT) based on a high-speed resonant-cavity LED (RCLED) is the first to be certified for compliance with the MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport) automotive standard.