Kyoto, Japan - OMRON Corporation (Tokyo: 6645; ADR: OMRNY) today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary OMRON Precision Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "OPT") headquartered in Saitama, Japan and headed by President Masashi Takeuchi, will establish a new site to produce backlights for LCDs in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, China. Named OMRON Precision Technology (HengYang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "OPT-HE"), the new production site will begin production this August.

To thoroughly accommodate the rapidly growing demand for small- and medium-sized LCD backlight units for use in the high-growth market of mobile devices, OPT will aim to further boost its production capacity by building a new OPT-HE facility in China's inland area in addition to its existing facilities in the southern and eastern parts of the country. For the establishment of OPT-HE, OPT will initially invest approximately 260 million yen, with plans for future upgrades and expansion. Its total floor space of 25,000m² is the largest among OPT's production sites. OPT-HE will start operations with the assembly of backlight units, with plans to gradually expand production to include molding of light guide and mounting other components, as well as in-house production of sheet components. OPT-HE will be staffed with about 2,000 employees during fiscal 2010, which will double to 4,000 by fiscal 2012.

Along with the establishment of OPT-HE, OPT plans to strengthen its production facilities in its existing sites. Specifically, OPT will invest approximately 800 million yen in OMRON Precision Technology (DongGuan) Co., Ltd. located in southern China, and OMRON Precision Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. in eastern China, in order to expand their individual production capacities.

With these three sites combined, OPT will build a production system capable of producing 37 million backlight units per month by the end of the present fiscal year. Going forward, the aim is to increase the monthly capacity to 55 million units by the end of fiscal 2012. Once accomplished, this system will enable OPT to establish a leading position in its industry. Based on this well-established position, OPT will continue to respond to robust market demand, promoting growth and further expanding its business.