Veeco Investing $25M in Asian Expansion

Veeco Instruments Inc., a maker of equipment used to manufacture LEDs, solar panels and hard disk drives, will significantly expand its presence in Asia to better support the rapid growth of the LED industry there, company CEO John R. Peeler announced this week at the 7th China International Forum for Solid State Lighting.

“We see a tremendous opportunity to help our Asian customers to ‘go faster’ to advance brightness and decrease the cost of LEDs,” said Peeler. "As our Asian customers continue to accelerate the pace of adoption of LEDs for consumer electronics and solid-state lighting, we believe this strategic investment of more than $25 million will position Veeco as the region's top equipment supplier and ensure the mutual success of Veeco and our customers. Over time, we will also leverage these new sites to support our customers in solar and other clean tech markets."

The company will provide an "unprecedented" level of technology development on latest-generation metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems, as well as customer training and support, Peeler said.

Veeco’s expansion plan includes:

Shanghai, China - Shanghai Training Center (STC): Customer support and training (target opening Q1 2011)
Hsinchu, Taiwan- Taiwan Technology Center (TTC): Applications center and demo lab (target opening Q1 2011)
Korea Development Center (KDC): Engineering and process development center. Site to include tool demos and customer training (target opening mid to late 2011)
Singapore: Expanded manufacturing center and supply chain hub
Japan: Move to direct sales and service for MOCVD from prior representative sales (Target effective date January 2011)

For more information, visit: www.veeco.com