II-VI Incorporated expands pump laser manufacturing capacity

II‐VI Incorporated is expanding the capacity of its 980nm pump laser production lines, including wafer fab and chip on carrier assembly in Zurich, Switzerland and in Calamba, Philippines, and pump laser module assembly in Shenzhen, China.  The company has also completed the extension of the current facility lease in Shenzhen, China in a move to address a rise in demand.

The production capacity increase specifically, will help to meet the additional demand for data centre interconnects and the growing demand for ROADMs. The company expects its new capacity to be in operation by the end this year.    

II-VI’s semiconductor laser chips are designed and manufactured in Zurich, Switzerland, whilst its Calamba, Philippines facility houses automated assembly lines for laser sub-assemblies which are shipped to II-VI operations in Shenzhen, China to complete the pump laser module assembly. The Shenzhen operation has shipped more than 3 million pump lasers, the majority of which are under the II-VI brand.

Simon Loten, general manager, II-VI Pump Laser Division commented: ‘As our company has previously discussed, we are seeing increased demand for our products for optical communications. Our micro-pump lasers, one of our latest innovations, have set new standards in miniaturisation, enabling transceiver embedded amplifiers for next generation data centre interconnects.’