Optical network solutions provider II-VI Inc. plans to expand the capacity of its 980-nm pump laser production lines, including wafer fabrication and chip-on-carrier assembly in Zürich, Switzerland, and Calamba, Philippines, and pump laser module assembly in Shenzhen, China. II-VI will increase its production capacity to meet the strong demand for data center interconnects and the growing demand for reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADM). This new production capacity is expected to be operational by the end of the calendar year. “As our company has previously discussed, we are seeing increased demand for our products for optical communications,” said Simon Loten, general manager of II-VI’s pump laser division. “Our micro-pump lasers, one of our latest innovations, have set new standards in miniaturization, enabling transceiver embedded amplifiers for next-generation data center interconnects.” II-VI’s semiconductor laser chips are designed and manufactured in Zürich. II-VI’s manufacturing facility in the Philippines houses state-of-the-art automated assembly lines for laser subassemblies, which are shipped to II-VI operations in Shenzhen to complete the pump laser module assembly. II-VI’s Shenzhen operations shipped more than 3 million pump lasers, the majority of them under the II-VI brand. II-VI is a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops innovative products for diversified applications in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment, and consumer markets.