Uniphase Corp. (San Jose, CA) signed a letter of intent with Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands to acquire Philips Optoelectronics B.V., a Philips business located in Eindhoven. Philips Optoelectronics designs, develops, manufactures, and markets semiconductor lasers, photodiodes, and components to telecommunications, cable-TV, multimedia, and printing markets. Uniphase is an optoelectronics company that deals in fiber-optic telecommunications components and modules, laser subsystems, and laser-based semiconductor wafer defect examination and analysis equipment.