Shanghai 7, November 2017 / PRNewswire / - two technology companies, OSRAM group and continental group announced plans for the establishment of a
China joint venture between the two sides on the 6th. The program aims to combine innovative lighting technology with electronic with software technologies to develop, produce and sell intelligent lighting solutions of the automotive industry. This globalized joint venture will be named Osram Continental GmbH, with its headquarters in the Munich region.
Both Osram and Continental Group will hold 50 per cent of each joint venture. The joint venture, which is expected to employ about 1,500 employees, has 17 locations around the world, with annual sales of hundreds of millions of Euros. The joint venture appointed Dirk Linzmeier of the Osram group as chief executive, and Harald Renner of the Continental group as chief financial officer. The joint venture plans to start operations in 2018 after a series of processes including agreement on legal contracts, approval of the respective supervisory board and approval of antitrust approval.
At that time, osram will transfer its solid state lighting (SSL) business to the joint venture,the Continental group will transfer the lighting control of the car body and the security unit to the joint venture. Thus, future joint venture Osram Continental will have semiconductor based lighting modules, advanced electronics, optical and software technologies, meanwhile, the combination of sensor technology and innovative light source can be used to introduce a variety of different, end-to-end, innovative lighting solutions for headlamps and taillights. The purpose of the joint venture is to delivering products and solutions that are optimized and coordinated and innovative to the market more quickly through joint development. In the future, the joint venture will operate on the market as an independent enterprise.
Stefan Kampmann, chief technology officer of Osram group, said: "the establishment of the joint venture is a signal that Osram will insist on digitalization as the focus of development. And Continental's expertise in software and electronics will further cement our technological leadership in automotive lighting. Therefore, the joint venture will become a future digital automotive lighting technology company."
Helmut Matschi, executive board member of continental group, said:" the automotive industry has maintained a high innovation speed, and the development of software technology has also enhanced the changing momentum. The professional capacity of traditional lighting is still important in our customers' minds, and the importance of electronic fields to support new lighting functions is increasing day by day. Future joint ventures will continue to integrate these areas and upgrade to new levels."
The lighting market in the automobile industry is undergoing technological changes. Similar to ordinary lighting, the market is developing in the direction of semiconductor based lighting solutions. The importance of semiconductor technology, software and electronic products is also increasing with the increasing number of intelligent lighting functions in the automotive field and the expanding range of design and application based on new lighting technology. In this trend, the market for automotive headlights based on semiconductors grows at two-digit rates every year. Market research shows that by 2025, there will be more than one lighting solution based on semiconductors in every two new cars around the world.
"Intelligent lighting solutions provide greater design flexibility for the car makers and help to optimize R & D costs." Andreas Wolf, the head of the safety business unit of the continental group, thinks so. He added: "the global operation mode of joint venture Osram Continental will give us the opportunity to work closely together, so as to develop customized vehicle lighting solutions based on customer needs. The two technology companies of continental group and OSRAM group bring their professional technical knowledge to a joint venture, and they will create a unique and widely applied solution for customers.
"Under the digital framework, the field of automotive lighting will produce new forms of application, which will also bring great opportunities. We hope to seize these opportunities with continental groups." With our combination of lighting and electronic solutions, we can provide the automotive industry customers with advanced products in the future. Hans-Joachim Schwabe, chief executive of the OSRAM group's special lighting business department.
He added: "we will work closely together with the automotive industry in order to integrate lighting, sensing and electronic technology into an application, thus further promoting technological innovation. This will help to promote the development of new intelligent lighting functions, such as lighting and sensor technology combination in a single module, or light-based communication between drivers, other traffic participants and surrounding environment.
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