Front End I News Rutronik looks to the optoelectronics market for growth
As a result of LED technology, lighting has become a key market for electronics and in response Rutronik has
strengthened its optoelectronics sector to focus on this market. Thanks to new partnerships with Intematix, Samsung LEDs, Bright LED and LEDIL as well as the expansion of cooperation with Osram, the company has looked to re-position itself with a wider product range. Until now, Rutronik has been regarded primarily as an "Osram distributor" in terms of lighting. Not without reason: both companies have been working together for more than ten years and more recently throughout Europe. Rutronik is the leading distributor in every category of Osram’s distributor rankings with the only exceptions being the new franchise countries of Great Britain and Ireland as well as Denmark, Finland and Sweden. With its high- brightness and high-power products, however, Rutronik has established an important foothold in the industrial and automotive market and is looking to replicate that success in the lighting market.
"There is enormous potential here, because LEDs not only offer a more energy-efficient alternative to conventional lighting applications, but also open up a whole new range of potential applications. For instance, we
played a major role in the development of displays, which simulate an exterior view on walls of window-less rooms," as Marcus Oechsle, Product Area Manager of Optoelectronics at Rutronik explained to CIE.
"Projects such as this show that we are much further ahead than generally perceived – and not only with exciting architectural lighting projects – we also were the first in Europe to equip a street of houses with dimmer-controlled LED street lights. Jointly with Osram and other partners, we are currently in the process of changing the complete street lighting system of an entire European country over to LED technology. However, we still need great powers of persuasion here."
Lighting customers are often new distribution customers, among them metal-processing companies, lighting designers, architects, government agencies, local administrations and energy suppliers. Topics such as electronic control or thermal management are totally unknown territories for this circle of customers. And the question whether when and how they should get involved in LED technology can certainly not be answered universally.
"As far as street lighting is concerned, we strongly dissuade changing from
mercury vapour to sodium vapour. This way, local governments tie money to an outdated technology, which will paralyse them for years," suggested Oechsle. "Those not yet comfortable with LED technology should do nothing and opt later for a future-orientated solution. From our point of view, however, LED technology is certainly ready for use in a broad range of applications – and we also want to convince our customers of this fact. For this reason, we are glad that so many manufacturers support us in this regard."
One of the new franchise partners is Intematix, for which Rutronik is acting exclusively in Europe. The specialist and market leader in phosphors for LEDs develops and distributes individual LED components, modules and finished products as well as controls, heat sinks and secondary optics plus entire LED systems specifically for the lighting market. Thanks to many years of experience in the development of patent-protected phosphors, Intematix is in a position to manufacture high-quality white LEDs. They represent a cost- effective alternative to white LEDs with RGB technology if no colour changes are required. The patented Intematix ceramics packages are characterised by excellent heat dissipation. Since the beginning of this year,
Samsung LED has complemented Rutronik's line card. "Here we see a lot of development potential," emphasised Marcus Oechsle. "This is because Samsung LED is one of very few suppliers worldwide to manufacture their own LED chips, which means the company not only supplies me-too products but can look to provide innovative solutions as well. The low and middle-power LEDs with their very even and planar illumination are suited particularly for backlight applications as well as general and street lighting. Another new Rutronik partner is Bright LED Electronics. For almost 30 years, the company has manufactured its own products and is thereby able to put into practice individual requirements or specifications. Lenses and secondary optics by LEDIL round off Rutronik's growing portfolio. According to Marcus Oechsle, "LEDIL manufactures its lenses for selected optics only and therefore achieves the same quality standard when manufacturing lenses for an LED." This is certainly a substantial expansion of the optoelectronics portfolio on the part of Rutronik and the company is aiming to offer several components by various manufacturers or different complete solutions for every requirement, enabling the customer to make the optimum choice according to his specific needs.
Apple to become second largest OEM semiconductor buyer in 2011
With the phenomenal success of the iPad and iPhone Apple is expected to become the world’s second-largest OEM semiconductor buyer in 2011, potentially positioning the company to become the world’s top chip purchaser in 2012, according to new research from iSuppli. With projected semiconductor spending in 2011 of $16.2 billion, Apple will leap over Samsung Electronics, which will drop to the third spot after finishing with $13.9 billion. Apple’s one-step rise in the rankings will move the company to a close second place behind Hewlett- Packard Co., which will retain its No. 1 ranking next year thanks to $17.1 billion in spending.
6 July/August 2010
According to Min-Sun Moon, senior analyst for semiconductor spend and design at iSuppli, “Apple’s expected rise to No. 2, eclipsing Samsung and putting it within a hair’s breadth of Hewlett- Packard, means that the company’s investment in its new smart phone and tablet has paid off and will continue to do so for some time to come.” Apple’s anticipated growth in 2011 continues the extraordinary arc of expansion enjoyed by the company in recent times. In 2009, Apple recorded a surprising 13 percent expansion in semiconductor spending - a year when most manufacturers posted negative growth. This year, spending by Apple will
Components in Electronics
expand by a staggering 54.0 percent to reach $12.4 billion - the highest growth rate predicted for any company. Next year, spending levels will by augmented by another 30.4 percent for the company to catapult to its vaunted second-place finish.
Barring any unforeseen mergers and acquisitions by current champion Hewlett-Packard, according to Moon, Apple could well snag the top spot as soon as 2012, ousting a company that has held down the pinnacle since early this millennium.
For 2010, a number of OEM
companies are set to join Apple and post rapid growth in semiconductor spending
levels, iSuppli data The next five companies following Apple, in descending order, are Lenovo Group Ltd., at 47.1 percent; SanDisk Corp., at 44.3 percent; Research in Motion Ltd.; at 42.9 percent; Cisco Systems Inc., at 37.3 percent; and Acer Inc., at 29.4 percent. Overall, semiconductor consumption will continue to increase in the Asia- Pacific region, given the rise of manufacturing levels in the region and because of outsourcing activity flowing out from other areas. Major markets contributing to this trend include compute platforms, wireless communications and wired communications.
www.cieonline.co.uk
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