OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2011. Optogan has opened an LED chip-production facility in Landshut, Germany to complement its manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. Optogan GmbH has held an opening ceremony for its LED chip-production facility in the German city of Landshut. The site was opened by Martin Zeil, the Minister of Economic Affairs for the German Federal State of Bavaria.

The Optogan Group is headquartered in Russia, and last year the company opened a large LED production site in St. Petersburg, which manufactures LED components and modules.

The foundation of the new Landshut site was a former Hitachi semiconductor factory, with a clean-room area of up to 4,000 m2. Optogan has invested tens of millions of euros in the site, which will employ up to 100 members of staff. The facility will have an initial capacity of over one billion LED chips per year.

According to Optogan, the facility is Europe’s second-largest LED chip-production site. The largest is also in Germany, namely Osram Opto Semiconductors’ plant in Regensburg.

“I am delighted that Optogan has decided to use a site in Bavaria when expanding its operations in Germany,” said Martin Zeil. “The site’s proximity to Munich Airport and its access to highly qualified specialists and experts form an excellent foundation for the company to develop its international business.”

“In Landshut, we have discovered the ideal infrastructure for our future high-volume production of LED chips,” said Hans Peter Ehweiner, managing director of Optogan GmbH. “Our LED lamps and luminaires are on the way towards lighting up indoor, outdoor and residential areas all over the world.”

The Landshut site also forms the basis of the international sales activities carried out by the Optogan Group, whose core business currently involves the European markets.

The Optogan Group was founded by three Russian physicists in Finland in 2004. Since 2005, the company has been developing and manufacturing state-of-the-art chip technologies in the German city of Dortmund.

Optogan was acquired in late 2008 by Onexim Group, a private investment fund. Rusnano, a Russian state investment fund is another major investor in the company.