Kyocera acquires Optrex, forms Kyocera Display Corporation
Plymouth, MI--Kyocera Corporation (Kyoto, Japan) acquired liquid-crystal display (LCD) manufacturer Optrex Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), to form Kyocera Display Corporation. The acquisition and new company formation will allow Kyocera Display Corporation to expand its LCD display roduct offerings and manufacturing capabilities for automotive, industrial, and digital signage applications.
The Kyocera Group includes over 200 companies worldwide that manufacture a wide range of products including industrial ceramic materials, semiconductor components, automotive components, communications equipment, and LCDs. Kyocera offers a wide range of active-matrix TFT LCD panels in sizes from 3.5 to 12.1 inches diagonal and resolutions from QVGA to SVGA. Optrex, founded in 1976, has been focused on small and medium-size LCDs in the automotive and industrial market sectors, offering a range of active-matrix TFT and monochrome graphic and character LCDs.
Kyocera's Gen 3 TFT LCD fabrication facility produces state-of-the-art polysilicon and amorphous silicon panels. Kyocera Display Corporation will complement their high-volume front-end array production capability with Optrex’s back-end modularization capabilities. The acquisition of Optrex will also enable Kyocera to complement its range of resistive- and capacitive-type touch-screen panels with Optrex's touch-screen bonding capabilities.
The company's acquisition of Optrex America in Plymouth, MI (now Kyocera Display America), as well its acquisition of Optrex Europe in Babenhausen, Germany (now Kyocera Display Europe GmbH), will enable Kyocera to expand its presence in the automotive and industrial LCD markets in the Americas and Europe.
"We are confident that there will be a strong synergy between the product offerings, manufacturing infrastructure, business strategy and market segments of Kyocera and Optrex," said Akihiko Ikeda, president of Kyocera Display Corporation. "It will benefit the customers of both companies and give us the capability for strong growth in the years ahead."
"The change of ownership will not affect our relationship with Optrex's customers and suppliers," said Cynthia Ferrell, CEO of Kyocera Display America. "We remain committed to our business and to the continuity of supply to our longstanding and highly valued customer base."
SOURCE: Kyocera Display America; www.kyocera-display.com
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.