Lumileds Lighting, a world leader in high-brightness LEDs, will become primarily a Philips Royal Electronics-owned business, thanks to a deal struck this month with Agilent Technologies. The transaction, expected to be final in fourth quarter 2005, is pending regulatory approval.
Philips is buying back a 47 percent stake in Lumileds from Agilent Technologies. That gives Philips a 96 percent controlling interest in Lumileds, which will continue to operate as an independent business group.
Lumileds was founded as a joint venture between Philips and Agilent in 1999.
Today, Lumileds produces LEDs for:
- Automotive lighting
- Computer displays
- LCD TVs
- Signage and signaling
- General lighting
With headquarters in San Jose, California, Lumileds employs 1,760 people in San Jose, Penang, Malaysia and Best, The Netherlands.
In an announcement, Philips said that the purchase extends its LED lighting capabilities to cover the full lighting value chain: from semiconductor dies that form the basis for LEDs to complete solid-state lighting modules and systems.
To learn more about the acquisition, read the Philips release, the Lumileds release, "Lumileds Lighting Poised to Accelerate Advances in Solid-State Lighting Technology", or the Agilent release.
