Dow Electronic Materials Expands its LED Technologies’ Portfolio to Include Specialty Phosphor Technology
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dow Electronic Materials, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) today announced its bolt-on acquisition of Lightscape Materials, Inc., a spin-off of SRI International. Lightscape Materials is a private, US-based research company with intellectual property in specialty phosphor technology. Major Lightscape Materials’ investors included Wisepower, a Korean company, and Silicon-Valley based SRI International. The investment enables Dow to add phosphor technology to the Company’s existing LED technologies portfolio.
“The novel phosphor compositions developed by Lightscape Materials enable improved quality, reliability and output color of LED light-based systems,” said Leo Linehan, global general manager for Dow Electronic Materials’ Growth Technologies business. “We look forward to helping customers incorporate these advanced phosphors into their processes, while providing the local service, support and supply they have come to expect from Dow.” Linehan added, “We are equally pleased to have the expertise of Lightscape co-founders Gerard Frederickson and Yongchi Tian as part of our LED Technologies team.”
Wisepower CEO Gi-Ho Park said, “Dow Chemical was the ideal acquirer for Lightscape Materials. Dow’s investments in LED-related materials and their global marketing reach was a factor in our decision to choose Dow,” said Park. “Lightscape is a unique phosphor player capable of delivering novel phosphors crucial to high CRI LED packages.”
SRI Ventures Vice President Norman Winarsky, PhD said, “It is gratifying to see SRI’s technology develop into products that meet important market needs. Lightscape, the latest success in SRI’s series of spinoff ventures, is built from a strong legacy of lighting innovations that include the first color TV phosphors.”
Linehan added, “We look forward to working with SRI International and Wisepower again as the occasion arises.”
Phosphors are used in LED lighting applications where color quality is a key performance attribute, such as in backlights for LCD displays and in residential, workplace and retail illumination. They enable the LED to create a wide spectrum of white light, with the color tuned for the desired application. Linehan says the ongoing development of phosphor compositions is particularly important as applications become more sophisticated and consumers’ expectations for color quality increase.
In October of 2011, Dow announced the formation of a new LED Technologies business segment to capture current and future demand for LEDs in the solid-state lighting market. In addition to the newly added phosphor materials, Dow’s portfolio includes metalorganic CVD precursors, which are used to make the active light-emitting areas in LEDs, as well as photoresists, related ancillaries for lithographic processing, metallization processes for electroplating, and pads and slurries for CMP – all of which are used to manufacture LEDs.
Dow Electronic Materials has manufacturing and research facilities in the U.S., Europe, China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2011, Dow had annual sales of $60 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
About Dow Electronic Materials
Dow Electronic Materials, a global supplier of materials and technologies to the electronics industry, brings innovative leadership to the semiconductor, interconnect, finishing, photovoltaic, display, LED and optics markets. From advanced technology centers worldwide, teams of talented Dow research scientists and application experts work closely with customers, providing solutions, products and technical service necessary for next-generation electronics. These partnerships energize Dow's power to invent. Its key end-use applications include a broad range of consumer electronics from personal computers, to television monitors, cellular phones, global positioning systems, automobile safety systems, and avionics.
About Wisepower
Wisepower, a Korean company (KOSDAQ: 040670), started its business as a rechargeable battery packer in 1998. The company has diversified its business in wireless charging solution and LED lighting, which are currently two major business areas. Wisepower also acquired several prospective private companies such as Grand Tech, a semiconductor facility constructor, Convex, a precision motion control solution developer, and Unidym, a US based carbon nanotube (CNT) product company, as new businesses for its growth. Wisepower and its subsidiaries have regional presence in Korea, US, China, and Australia. More information about Wisepower can be found at www.wisepower.co.kr.
About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International, a nonprofit research and development organization, performs sponsored R&D for governments, businesses, and foundations. SRI brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, new products, and spin-off ventures. SRI is known for world-changing innovations in computing, health and pharmaceuticals, chemistry and materials, sensing, energy, education, national defense, and more.
®Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) or an affiliated company of Dow
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