Firecomms, the Co Cork-based transceivers and semiconductors firm, has been acquired by Chinese corporation the ZJF Group and has garnered a €5m R&D investment.
The deal with the Chinese company guarantees €5m investment in Irish R&D for plastic optical fibre (POF) technology and is the first-ever technology acquisition of an Irish high-tech firm by a Chinese corporation.
As well as the €5m investment, the deal will see the expansion of Firecomms’ engineering team from 18 to 30 people over the next 12 months and will also facilitate the rapid expansion of Firecomms’ operations in mainland China.
Access to resources
“This increased investment in R&D, coupled with access to the broad resources of the ZJF Group, will be hugely advantageous for our customers. In addition to giving us the ability to offer complete integrated networking solutions to our customers, the investment and access to a fast-growing marketplace will result in rapid development of POF solutions, and reduced costs for this reliable, easy-to-use technology,” said Firecomms CEO Declan O’Mahoney.
ZJF Group said the acquisition of Firecomms was to tap into the company’s expertise as well as to focus on plastic optical fibre, which is a construction focus in China.
“China is already the largest manufacturer of plastic optical fibre and we are combining those huge resources with Firecomms’ leading technology,” said Xuping Zheng, chairman of the ZJF Group.
Firecomms develops high-speed optical components that drive fibre-optic networks in home, industrial and automotive applications.
