News: Optoelectronics
11 May 2023
Lynred breaks ground on €85m site for IR detector manufacturing
Lynred of Grenoble, France, which designs and manufactures infrared (IR) detectors for aerospace, defense and commercial applications, has broken ground on its biggest construction investment since it began manufacturing in 1986 — a new €85m ($93.7m) ‘Campus’ industrial site for producing infrared technologies.
Financed by loans from the CIC bank and Bpifrance, the project will double Lynred’s existing cleanroom footprint, totaling 8200m2 (88,264ft2), primarily to meet two strategic objectives:
- obtain an optimal cleanroom cleanliness classification for its new high-performance products (hybrid detectors);
- increase the production capacity for its more compact industrial products (bolometers) used in multiple fields, including the automotive industry.
Lynred reckons that the investment will consolidate its position as European market leader in infrared detection (and the world’s second largest IR detector manufacturer). It enables the firm to play a key role in the European defense industrial and technological base, innately woven into strengthening French and European forces, for whom infrared detection is hugely important. With this, Lynred is taking a step up in responding to the French government’s call to reorient European industry towards a ‘rearmament economy’.
“This will enable us to respond to growing market demand for next-generation infrared technologies, including in the automotive sector. It will allow us to contribute to bolstering France’s industrial sovereignty and, more generally, to improve our overall industrial performance,” said Lynred’s chairman Jean-François Delepau, who thanked the firm’s partners for support, particularly shareholders Thales and Safran. “Lynred is embarking on a new strategic pathway, both in terms of technology and dynamic growth,” he added.
The buildings are due for completion in the first trimester of 2025 and the site will be fully operational by the following October. The industrial facility will comprise 8200m2 (88,264ft2) of interconnected cleanrooms (twice the existing surface area), 3400m2 (36,600ft2) of laboratories, a 2300m2 (24,756ft2) logistics area, and a tertiary and technical area of 10,800m2 (11,625ft2).
Lynred aims to increase its production capacity by 50% by 2025, in particular for its bolometer products, with a view to doubling capacity by 2030.
With these new cleanrooms the company will house all of its French production lines in a single location, enabling synergies among core competences and optimizing production flows, it is reckoned.
The new buildings will be located on the existing Lynred site in Veurey-Voroize, within the Grenoble area. They have been designed to ensure optimized energy management and environmental performance: even with 13,600m2 (146,400ft2) under construction, the volume of permeable surface will increase. The firm will decrease its carbon footprint by 33% and will install 1800m2 (19,375ft2) of solar panels. Moreover, the site will accommodate an additional 320 trees, and more than 100 charging stations for electric vehicles (cars and bicycles) will be put in place, with more cycle parking added.
