Which is tilting toward LED technology based on semiconductors

The job cuts, primarily outside Germany, come on top of 1,900 positions that Osram already reduced in fiscal 2012 and will help reap 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in cost savings as the market for traditional light bulbs shrinks, the company said today in a statement. In total, the job losses at LED high bay light will amount to about 7,300 positions. The measures will cost a “mid- three digit million figure” through 2014, with the savings realized in full a year later.

Siemens said this week that it would spin off Osram next year and retain about a fifth of the company, after realizing that investments to keep pace in the lighting market would be too great for the engineering company to shoulder. Siemens trails Royal Philips (PHIA) Electronics NV in the market for lighting, which is tilting toward LED technology based on semiconductors.

“Personnel increases in the future fields will only partially compensate for the change in the traditional businesses,” Osram Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Dehen said in the release. Osram had about 39,000 employees as of Sept. 30.

Siemens undertook the capital increase at Osram in the fiscal year ended Sept. 3, the company said in its annual report published Nov. 28. Spokesman Wolfram Trost said the transaction is part of Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser’s pledge to ensure Osram will be eligible for a credit rating between ’A-’ and ’BBB+,’ declining to provide further details on Osram’s balance sheet.