(Yicai Global) March 5 -- Hengtong Optic-Electric has paid USD30 million to  increase the Shanghai-listed firm's stake in UK chip designer Rockley  Photonics to 9 percent from 2.4 percent previously.

The firm aims to strengthen technical cooperation and expand its business  to the upstream chip design industry through the deal, the Suzhou-based  firm said in a statement.

Hengtong Optic-Electric will subscribe to just over two million common stocks of  the target firm at a price of USD14.3 each, the statement said. 

London-based  Rockley Photonics transferred three patented silicon photonic chip  technologies to the pair's joint venture in Jiangsu province in 2017.

The two parties invested USD14 million to set up the JV at the end of 2017  to develop and produce components for optical fiber communication  networks to meet the increasing demand for network transmission  equipment. Hengtong Optic-Electric and Rockley Photonics control 75.1  percent and 24.9 percent of firm, respectively. 

The cooperation between the two parties is conducive to extending the  business of the listed company in the silicon photonics sector. The JV  covers chip design, packaging and testing, as well as packaging and  manufacturing of photon transceivers. 

Editor: William Clegg