Choosing Hong Kong as its new regional headquarters reflects what the company says is its long-term commitment to Greater China and the Asia market, which is open to innovative solutions in LED lighting.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 4/17/2008

To be closer to customers and partners in Asia, especially Greater China, Korea, and Japan, semiconductor technology-based lighting and sensor supplier Osram today opened its new Asia regional headquarters that will initially house staff to coordinate sales and marketing activities in Asia.

The Siemens wholly owned subsidiary will be headed by Dr. Alfred Felder, CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors Asia Ltd.

The company said regional activities for other business units of Osram have been located in Hong Kong since 2006.

“Choosing Hong Kong as our new regional headquarters reflects our long-term commitment to Greater China and the Asia market, which is open to innovative solutions in LED lighting. The opening of this office represents a successful step forward in the strategic development of OSRAM Opto Semiconductors in Asia and paves the way for us to strengthen our sales and marketing efforts here,” said Dr. Rüdiger Müller, CEO of OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, in a statement.

This opening follows the groundbreaking in July 2007 of a second opto chip factory in Penang, Malaysia, which, when it opens in Spring 2009, is expected to be the world's most advanced chip factory to serve the LED market.

In other Osram news, Osram CEO Martin Goetzeler and Müller earlier this month together with Regensburg, Germany, mayor Hans Schaidinger opened the last section of the company’s new semiconductor plant in Regensburg.

Since the start of construction seven years ago, Osram said it has invested hundreds of millions of Euros in the location, and during this period the number of employees has increased by approximately 500 to 1500, Müller explained. Doing so allowed capacity to be increased by almost 50%, necessitating the expansion of the Regensburg facility to its current-day size of nearly 600,000-square feet, he said.