LightPath Technologies to Expand Manufacturing Capacity

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, May 5 -- LightPath Technologies, Inc., has announced that its Board of Directors has approved a plan to expand the production capacities for its single mode fiber collimator products and the free-space isolator products recently added through the acquisition of Horizon Photonics.

LightPath manufactures a family of high-performance, fiber-optic collimator and isolator products at its facilities in Albuquerque, NM, and Walnut, CA. These products are used in optical systems for advanced telecommunications networks. According to the company, its products have all been built and designed around proprietary automated manufacturing technologies that are targeted to the traditionally labor-intensive telecommunications-equipment component marketplace. The expansion will be part of a $15 million investment that is expected to triple overall production capacity.

"The demand for optical components continues to grow at unprecedented rates," said Don Lawson, president and CEO of LightPath. "Since the beginning of the year, we have experienced OEM acceptance of our optical components as the rigorous testing requirements have been satisfactorily completed. While we are now qualified with three major OEMs, the numbers of new customers buying and qualifying our products continues to grow rapidly."

Lawson added that LightPath's components are being designed into customers' specific modules and subsystems, which has led to significant increases in sales bookings over the past four months. The company plans to complete the expansion in two phases, both of which are already underway. Phase I will take place in Albuquerque and is slated for completion in June 2000. Phase II will be in Walnut, CA, and is scheduled for completion in September 2000.

In February 2000, LightPath announced an expansion of its strategic alliance with Hikari Glass Company of Japan. Hikari agreed to invest $5 million in their own operations in Asia to procure production equipment necessary for building our a second facility for the production of LightPath's GRADIUM glass materials and other products. During the same month, LightPath announced the establishment of a new facility in Warren, NJ, for development of an optical component enabling future optical cross-connect products. According to LightPath, both of these expansion-related projects are moving forward on schedule.

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