Investors are looking more closely at Rochester thanks to strong optics industry

January 22, 2024 — More than 140 people gathered at The Fairport Brewing Company in Rochester, NY, for New York Photonics’ annual meeting, which this year  included an inquiry into why the region’s OPI industry continues to thrive.

In 2022, Thorlabs had a substantial backorder that was hindering the Newton, New Jersey-based firm’s ability to keep up with demand, so company leaders began looking for ways to expand its manufacturing output.

They met that need a year later with Thorlabs’ acquisition of Rochester-based JML Optics last January, a move that allowed the company to expand its manufacturing capabilities and give it the much-needed production space it was seeking.

The Rochester operation is now Thorlabs Lens Systems, which is an R&D and production facility focused on the design, production, and testing of aspherical, spherical, plano, cylindrical, and acylindrical lenses as well as multi-element optical devices.

Looking at the Rochester area to meet the company’s need was a logical move, according to Jennifer Cable, Thorlabs’ president. <<READ THE FULL STORY IN THE ROCHESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL>>