25 April 2003 Southampton, UK -- Fibercore Limited has announced significant sales in Asia in Q4 2002 and the first two months of 2003.
The company has shipped around 50 km of its erbium-doped fibres to China and over 120 km of polarisation maintaining gyro fibre to Japanese aerospace and fundamental research customers.
This growth in sales from China represents a ten-fold increase over the same period last year, with top-level Chinese OEM companies increasing demand for high performance erbium-doped fibres for telecoms applications, including the new Metrogain M-5.
These considerable volumes are thought to be for manufacturing high performance EDFAs and 'Amplets' to cater for the dramatic increase in the Japanese data communications market.
In Japan, Fibercore has received requests for increased volumes of its HB800G gyro fibre from customers in the aerospace and optical device manufacture industries.
The company claims that this increase in demand in Asia is proof of the success of its "strength in depth". Fibercore Limited has limited sales reduction to 30%, compared with industry averages between 75 and 90%.
Managing Director Chris Emslie says, "The resurgence of the Asian market has come as a welcome surprise. It proves our belief that the most effective way to establish a strong market in Asia is via a combination of high performance fibres and a concerted presence, which we have developed over the last eight years.
"It is also a testament to our longevity in the photonics industry. Fibercore Limited is twenty one this year and our experience of tried and tested fibres coupled with our desire to pioneer new innovations are proving to be an attractive combination."