Aug 11, 2000 (CENS)

Opto Tech Corp., a major maker of light emitting diodes (LEDs) in Taiwan, recently announced that it will increase it's output of super-bright LEDs in 2001.

The company started supplying super-bright red LEDs from February this year. Monthly output is currently at about 10 million units.

The super-bright LEDs reap a profitof about 30%, pushing Opto Tech's net profit to NT$330 million (US$10.65 million at NT$31:US$1) in the first half this year. The strong performance made the company the most profitable publicly traded LED maker in Taiwan. Opto Tech predicts that its profit performance in the third and fourth quarters will be at least threefold the first quarter.

With the completion of its new plant in Northern Taiwan's Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, Opto Tech is confident that profitability will be significantly higher next year. The plant has a monthly capacity of more than 50 million super-bright red LEDs.

The super-bright LEDs are expected to add at least NT$1 billion (US$32.3 million) to company revenue next year, with a profit margin surpassing 30%.

Opto Tech produces the super-bright LEDs on transparent substrates. Each such LED sells for about NT$2 (US$0.06), 10-fold the price of general purpose LEDs.

The company reportedly has also developed technology for blue and green super-bright LEDs and sent product samples to a Japanese firm. Opto Tech said that its super-bright blue and green LEDs are the first in Taiwan to meet the 0402 standard.

Founded in 1983, Opto Tech grew to a leading international supplier of several key optoelectronic devices, including LED chips, detector chips, semiconductor chips, diodes, position photodiode chips, silicon position sensitivity diodes, and LED movie display systems. The company predicts that revenue will reach NT$5.1 billion (US$164.5 million) this year, up 40% from last year. It indicated that LEDs, large-size LED displays, and detector devices will account for 47%, 29%, and 24% of its production value, respectively.