"The fact that we have once again achieved record results in our [175th] anniversary year is of course particularly pleasing," comments Dr. Karl Lamprecht, CEO of Zeiss. In part, catch-up effects due to the pandemic also played a role, he admits. Overall, however, the company is well positioned.

Sales of the Zeiss "Industrial Quality & Research" Division grow by 10 percent

The "Industrial Quality & Research" division, which combines microscopy solutions and systems for industrial quality assurance, benefited from the stabilization of the market. Its sales grew to 1.8 billion euros (up 10 percent year-on-year).

Increased demand is particularly noticeable from the life science and electronics sectors. Business with solutions for industrial quality assurance has recovered. Strong investments in alternative drive technologies in the automotive industry offer new growth potential for the company: Microscopy and quality assurance solutions are increasingly used in battery research as well as for quality assurance in battery manufacturing.

The sales developments of the four Zeiss divisions:

•     Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology: 2.3 billion euros (+25 percent)
•     Industrial Quality & Research: 1.8 billion euros (+10 percent)
•     Medical Technology: EUR 2 billion (+18 percent)
•     Consumer Markets: 1,394 (+27 percent)

Acquisitions and investment in infrastructure

To enable future growth, Zeiss is also expanding its own infrastructure, for example at the headquarters in Oberkochen. The new construction project in Jena or the newly opened Innovation Center in Dublin, California, USA, are also part of this.

The completed cooperations and acquisitions of the fiscal year include the partnership with the technology company Vivo in the field of mobile imaging, announced in December, which focuses on a jointly developed camera system.

In addition, Zeiss acquired a majority stake in Arivis AG - in order to expand its offering in the microscopy business with 3D and Big Data software solutions. In this way, Zeiss is strengthening its expertise and market position in 3D visualization and analysis technology.

Most recently, the company announced the acquisition of Capture 3D, a U.S. company in the business of selling solutions for 3D optical metrology. With the closing of the transaction, Capture 3D became part of the Industrial Quality & Research division.