LED chip plant opens in Malaysia

Two years after breaking ground in July 2007, Osram Opto Semiconductors has built and process-tested what is claimed to be the world's most modern LED chip production plant, in Penang, Malaysia.

Regular production of LED chips has now begun at the plant. The facility makes the company the first LED manufacturer with high-volume chip production facilities in both Europe and Asia.

The plant complements a main facility in Regensburg, Germany, which was expanded in 2008.

Osram has invested of tens of millions of euros in the 35,000 m² manufacturing plant for LED chips - the devices that are poised to become the core components in the lighting systems of the future.

Now that the construction has been completed and the manufacturing processes established for the 4″ wafer-based indium gallium nitride (InGaN) chips, routine production is now underway. These chips form the basis for the blue, green and white LEDs used primarily in architectural and general lighting, for display backlighting and in mobile terminal devices.

The company employs about 2600 of its total worldwide workforce of 4400 at the Malaysian facility.