31 August, 2006
Omron to Acquire Optical Coupler Business from NHK Spring
Article Summary
On August 31, Omron’s Electronic Components Company
(ECB) announced it had reached a
preliminary agreement with NHK Spring Co., Ltd. to acquire
its FTTH(*1) optical coupler business. ECB
and NHK Spring are now working to finalize the details
of the agreement, which is scheduled to take
effect on November 1. By acquiring this NHK Spring business,
with its excellent track record in North
America, ECB aims to expand its share in the optical
communications components market. ECB also
intends to develop new FTTH optical couplers that combine
NHK Spring’s quartz optical waveguide
technology (*2) with Omron’s own stacked polymer
optical waveguide technology to reinforce its product
range, and expand the optical communications components
business as a whole.
NHK Spring’s optical coupler business includes
component micro-fabrication technologies and film deposition
technologies required to produce high-performance quartz
optical waveguides. The company also develops, manufactures
and markets optical coupler modules (*3) that incorporate
these optical waveguides. As a leading supplier of optical
couplers in North America, NHK Spring netted a total
sales revenue of 1.3 billion yen in fiscal 2005. Meanwhile,
Omron is the first company in the world to have commercialized
an optical coupler module that incorporates our stacked
polymer optical waveguide technology (*4).
The FTTH market is expanding rapidly. Japan and the
United States currently have the most subscribers, but
growth is expected to take off in Europe and Asia in
the near future. The acquisition of an entire business
model for optical couplers is expected to offer ECB
various advantages, allowing it to:
| 1. |
quickly expand business in the North American
market. |
| 2. |
develop high-performance,
cost-competitive products through the combination
of NHK Spring’s quartz optical waveguide
technology and Omron’s own stacked polymer
optical waveguide technology to reinforce its
product offerings. |
| 3. |
stimulate sales of Omron optical switches and
CWDM mux/demux modules by taking advantage of
NHK Spring’s customer base. |
As a result of this acquisition and its expected synergies,
ECB forecasts its optical communications component business
will generate total sales of approximately 2 billion
yen in fiscal 2006.
ECB and NHK Spring are now working to finalize details
of the agreement. After the conclusion of the official
agreement and an examination by the Japan Fair Trade
Commission, the acquisition is scheduled to take effect
on November 1.
| *1 |
FTTH stands for “Fiber
To The Home” and refers to optical fiber-based
data communications systems aimed at the consumer
market. |
| *2 |
An optical waveguide is
an element that branches optical power. |
| *3 |
An optical coupler is a
branching device for optical power. Optical
couplers are made by connecting optical fibers
to both ends of an optical waveguide. Optical
couplers are available with 4, 8, 16 and 32
branches. |
| *4 |
Omron calls this technology “Stacked Polymer
Optical IC/Advanced Technology” (SPICA). |
Overview of NHK Spring Co., Ltd.
| Company
Name: |
NHK Spring Co.,
Ltd. |
| Main
Business Lines: |
Manufacture
and sale of suspension springs, seats, precision
springs, disc drive suspensions, industrial
machinery and equipment (brazed products, ceramic
products, pipe supports, polyurethane sealing
products, printed wiring boards, and automated
multi-level parking systems), and security technologies
and solutions. |
| Representative: |
Chairman Yoshio Nakano |
| Number
of Employees: |
10,306 (as of March 2006,
consolidated total) |
| Consolidated
Sales: |
383.0 billion yen (consolidated
total for fiscal 2005) |
|
