Posted on: 27th March 2004, Germany E-mail this page to a friend

Osram GmbH, Munich, one of the two largest lighting manufacturers in the world, today announced that it is granting Coretronic Corporation, Taiwan, one of the world's largest TFT-LCD backlighting unit and DLP projector manufacuturer, a licence to manufacture and market mercury-free flat lamps. The licence is based on Osram's patents and know-how. Coretronic, like Samsung Corning, is an "exclusive partner" of Osram for flat lamps for backlighting flat screens. There are no plans to grant licences to other partners in the same area of application.

Osram already supplies high-tech lamps for video projection equipment to Coretronic. "Close cooperation with Coretronic in mercury-free flat lamps for flat screens will make Coretronic an important strategic partner for us", said Dr. Wolf-Dieter Bopst, President and CEO of Osram. This cooperation is of such particular strategic significance because Coretronic manufactures not only backlight units but also terminals.

"Strategic cooperation with Coretronic from Taiwan and Samsung Corning from Korea will enable us, over the medium term, to participate in the high growth of the Asian market in the mass application sector", added Dr. Bopst. Osram will continue to operate independently at its Herbrechtingen site in specialist markets such as medical engineering, industrial applications and special-purpose luminaires.

Background information

There are two product groups that are used for backlighting LCD flat screens for desktop monitors and televisions. The classic model is the mercury-based linear fluorescent lamp. The most innovative model is the mercury-free flat lamp. It has an extremely long life (up to 100,000 hours), is very flat (around eight millimetres thick) and provides homogeneous backlighting with a constant luminance.

The main application for flat lamps is backlighting for flat screens for desktop monitors and televisions. Flat lamps are particularly important for LCD televisions with picture diagonals greater than 30 inches. iSuppli/Stanford Resources, the market research institute, expects demand to increase from around eight million units in 2004 to around 20 million units in 2006.

About the companies

Osram is one of the two largest lighting manufacturers in the world. Sales in the year ending September 2003 totalled EUR4.2 billion, 88 percent of which outside Germany. Osram has developed from a classic light bulb manufacturer into a high-tech company in the lighting industry. Around 40 percent of sales comes from innovative products. This global player employs more than 35,000 people worldwide, supplies customers in some 140 countries and has 54 production facilities in 18 countries.

Coretronic is one of the largest TFT-LCD backlight unit and DLP projector manufacturers in the world. Sales in 2003 amounted to NT$23.9 billion or US$724 million. Coretronic is the first and the largest TFT-LCD backlight unit manufacturer in Taiwan. In addition to the backlight unit and DLP projector, Coretronic also makes TFT-LCD monitors and digital TV's including DLP TV, PDP TV and LCD TV's. Currently, Coretronic employs more than 2,600 people in Taiwan and has plants in Suzhou and Kunshan, China.