Rofin-Sinar acquires m2k and Corelase
Shortly after announcing that its affiliate company Rofin-Sinar Laser (Hamburg, Germany) had acquired 80% of the common stock of III-V semiconductor-laser maker m2k-laser (Freiburg, Germany), Rofin-Sinar Technologies (Plymouth, MI, and Hamburg, Germany) acquired 100% of the common stock of Corelase Oy (Tampere, Finland) in a cash transaction. Founded in 2003, Corelase Oy manufactures fiber-coupled diode-laser systems and continuous-wave and ultrashort-pulse modelocked fiber-laser systems for materials processing applications.
An investment note from senior analyst John Harmon at Needham & Company (www.needhamco.com) stated: “Rofin-Sinar recently announced a one-two punch of acquisitions that make good on management’s pledge to enter the fiber-laser market.” The m2k acquisition provides an internal source of diode chips, while the Corelase acquisition provides Rofin an internal source of fiber lasers.
CyOptics to acquire Apogee Photonics
Indium phosphide (InP) optical-chip and component developer CyOptics (Lehigh Valley, PA) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Apogee Photonics (Allentown, PA), a supplier of short- and long-reach high-speed laser sources for the 10 Gbit/s and emerging 40 Gbit/s markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition extends CyOptics’ high-speed source laser capabilities and positions CyOptics with a comprehensive portfolio of InP-based transmit and receive optical chips and components for communications applications.
Trumpf opens new facility in Mexico
Industrial-laser manufacturer Trumpf (Farmington, CT) opened a new sales, service, demonstration, and production facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The $10 million, 20,297 sq ft building includes an advanced manufacturing facility and a sales and application center that is open to Mexican fabricators and manufacturers for tours and technology demonstrations. “This new facility in Mexico strengthens our position in North America. The production facility also gives our Mexican customers the confidence that we are here and will remain here in the long term,” said Peter Leibinger, vice chairman of the Trumpf Group managing board and head of its laser and electronic division.
Konica, GE team up on OLED lighting
General Electric and Konica Minolta (Tokyo, Japan) signed a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of organic-light-emitting-diode (OLED) devices for lighting applications. Their goal is to bring OLED lighting to market within the next three years.
“Having such unprecedented attractive features as flexible, thin, lightweight, and sheet form, OLED lighting is considered one of the most promising new business opportunities for us in the future,” said Masatoshi Matsuzaki, president, Konica Minolta Technology Center. In addition to material technology and optical-design technology, Konica Minolta has been developing ultra-high-barrier film fabrication technology.
Synova teams with Kataoka on laser tools
Kataoka (Kyoto, Japan) and Synova (Lausanne, Switzerland) signed an exclusive licensing agreement under which Kataoka will integrate Synova’s proprietary Laser MicroJet technology into its laser-processing systems sold exclusively in Japan.
The collaboration also includes the opening of a joint micromachining center (MMC) at Kataoka’s Kuze facility in Kyoto, which will serve as a manufacturing site for Kataoka’s new Laser MicroJet-integrated systems, as well as a demonstration, service and support facility, giving Japanese customers direct access to the Laser MicroJet technology.
Also in the news . . .
Maxion Technologies(Hyattsville, MD), manufacturer of mid-IR semiconductor lasers based on interband-cascade and quantum-cascade lasers, received seed funding and closed on a $2.5 million series A round with Chart Venture Partners. . . . Laser Photonics (Lake Mary, FL) was awarded an almost $500,000 contract for delivering a high-power fiber-laser cutting system to a major sign-making company. . . The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) completed an initial set of product testing reports from Round 1 of the DOE Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Commercial Product Testing Program. . . . Laser Focus World(Nashua, NH) launched its new Web site at www.laserfocusworld.com to highlight web-exclusive content and provide more immediate access to industry news and information. . . . EM4 (Bedford, MA) and its wholly owned subsidiary EM4 Defense will be the primary market channel for the TeraXion (Quebec, QC, Canada) laser product line into the U.S. defense and homeland security market.... Allied Electronics (Fort Worth, TX), a subsidiary of Electrocomponents, signed a distribution agreement with TT electronics OPTEK Technology (Carrollton, TX) to distribute its full line of visible-LED products in North America.