November 24, 2025
Lumileds Cuts 61 Employees, Moves California Work to Asia
LED manufacturer tightens production footprint ahead of ownership change
LED maker Lumileds has notified California regulators that it will permanently lay off 61 employees at its San Jose facility beginning in January, confirming that the affected production work is being transferred to Asia. The notice, however, cites a list of 60 actual roles being eliminated. A clerical oversight perhaps, or a last-minute change of fate for one unnamed worker. Either way, it offers a glimpse into a broader operational shift at a company with longtime operations in Silicon Valley.
The layoffs will take place in three phases. The first wave, effective January 30, 2026, will eliminate 36 roles. A second round on February 6 will cut 21 more, and the final four employees will exit by March 31. Among those affected: process operators, engineering technicians, manufacturing and operations managers, supply chain leaders, and a Senior Director of Science—typically one of the highest-ranking R&D roles for an LED maker.
The timing of these exits notably overlaps with the expected first-quarter close of Lumileds’ pending acquisition by China’s San’an Optoelectronics and Malaysia’s Inari Amertron, announced in August 2025 — a $239 million deal that aims to consolidate manufacturing and test capabilities across Asia.
The company has confirmed that the manufacturing activity being eliminated in San Jose “is being transferred to another location in Asia.” But when asked directly whether this marks the end of North American manufacturing for Lumileds, the company responded with new clarification.
“We don’t have front-to-end manufacturing of entire product lines in the U.S.,” a Lumileds spokesperson wrote in a follow-up statement to Inside Lighting. “The San Jose operations covered a part of the entire LED manufacturing process. We expect to continue manufacturing operations in North America.”
Not a Full Exit, But a Major Shift
The layoff pattern outlined in Lumileds’ disclosure to California offers clues. The affected roles don’t reflect a narrow technical function. The departure of engineers, planners, supervisors, and a senior R&D leader points to a tightly integrated production and development unit. And the company’s WARN letter offers no indication that affected employees will be reassigned or supported with career transition services. In fact, Lumileds explicitly states it “does not intend to coordinate services with any entity” in connection with the layoff.
That’s a notable outlier in Silicon Valley, where many employers facing layoffs offer outplacement services or redeployment assistance as part of standard workforce reduction practices.
Still, Lumileds emphasized that its broader U.S. operations remain intact:
“This change does not affect Lumileds’ non-manufacturing related presence in North America, which is a very important market to us, and there will be no changes in how we support our customers and channel partners around the globe.”
— Lumileds spokesperson
A Restructuring Years in the Making
The shift comes at a time of significant transition for Lumileds. In August 2025, the company announced it would be acquired by China’s San’an Optoelectronics and Malaysia’s Inari Amertron. The transaction, still pending regulatory approval, follows a 2022 prepackaged bankruptcy that allowed Lumileds to shed $1.7 billion in debt and emerge with a new ownership structure.
That bankruptcy — and the subsequent restructuring — were designed to position the company for future growth.
For now, it remains unclear how much of Lumileds’ production capacity will stay on this side of the Pacific. What is clear is that a once-core part of its California operations will soon be gone.
