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Leading high-technology company, TRUMPF, has announced the completion of the photonics business from Philips (Philips Photonics), which it had proposed in December 2018.

Effective as of April 1, 2019, the acquisition will establish a new business division called TRUMPF Photonic Components, which will be headed up by Lutz Aschke and Joseph Pankert. Lutz Aschke has been CFO of Laser Technology at the TRUMPF Group since 2016, while Joseph Pankert has been General Manager of Philips Photonics since 2009.

Through the acquisition, TRUMPF has gained access to a new market segment that will complement its existing high-power diode laser business. Philips Photonics’ laser diodes are used in smartphones, in digital data transfer applications and in sensors for autonomous driving. With the VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) laser diode, the light is emitted perpendicular to the plane of the semiconductor chip, in contrast to the edge-emitting laser diode, where the light exits at one or two edges of the chip. VCSEL diodes are inexpensive to manufacture.

Founded in 2000, Philips Photonics has around 280 employees and is headquartered in Ulm, where it manufactures laser diodes in a dedicated production plant. Now, it is set to continue growing as part of TRUMPF, an innovative high-tech company with strong product development expertise. In the fiscal year 2017/18, TRUMPF invested almost 340 million euros in research and development and posted a ratio of R&D expenditure to sales of 9.5 percent.