Recently, Japanese wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei has acquired Crystal IS, the germicidal LED technology development company, to accelerate commercialisation of its UVC LEDs grown on AlN substrates.

The effective date of the merger was December 28, 2011. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Crystal IS will focus on R&D fundamentals and entrepreneurial business development management as well as continue to be based in New York State, while Asahi Kasei will concentrate on the product engineering and manufacturing side.