Sanan Opto Buys Lumileds

Sanan Optoelectronics, the Chinese LED firm, and Inari Amertron Berhad, the Malaysian OSAT  company, have bought the Dutch LED company Lumileds and its European and Asian subsidiaries for $329 million in cash.

“This transaction is the next step of our ongoing transformation. As the LED industry evolves and continues to mature, I am confident that Lumileds International will continue to be successful and accelerate its growth under the new ownership,” said Steve Barlow, CEO of Lumileds International.

Buying Lumileds gives Sanan access to the cross-licensing patent alliance of Nichia, ams OSRAM, Cree LED, Lumileds, and Toyoda Gosei.

Lumileds, which had revenue of about $600 million last year, is the seventh largest LED packaging company, the third in automotive LEDs and the No.2 in smartphone LEDs which it supplies to Apple..

Sanan has a 51/49% jv with ST in a $3.2 billion SiC  fab in Chongqing due to start volume production of 8” SiC ICs in Q4 using ST’s SiC process technology. When fully completed, in 2028,  the fab will have a capacity of  40k wpm.

Alongside the jv fab, Sanan is building  an 8-inch SiC wafer manufacturing facility which will supply wafers to the jv under a long-term agreement.