Osram, the lighting group of Germany's Siemens, has agreed to sell a factory in China as part of a move to cut costs and shift investment to light-emitting diode technology.

Osram is slashing jobs and selling factories, having come under pressure to invest in LED technology to keep up with rivals. With the sale of the Shaoxing plant, it passes the halfway point in its efforts to cut head count by 8,000.

The company said yesterday that it was selling the plant, which makes mostly traditional types of lamps, to Hong Kong-based Super Trend Lighting (Group) Ltd. The two companies agreed not to disclose financial details.

"Our focus is on profitable growth, and we plan to further increase the share of LED-based revenue of our overall business," Osram Chief Executive Wolfgang Dehen said in a statement. Most recently, LED accounted for more than 25 percent of Osram's revenue.

Osram aims to save about 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) by 2015 through restructuring but is also investing more than 100 million euros in a new LED plant in east China's Jiangsu Province.

It said that following the sale of the Shaoxing plant, it still sees Asia and China in particular as the key market of the future for LED.

LED technology is becoming popular as a source of general lighting in shops and restaurants, for outdoor displays, and for car headlights.

Consultancy McKinsey has estimated that the LED market will grow more than sevenfold to almost 65 billion euros by 2020, accounting for the bulk of global demand for lighting.

Osram generates annual sales of 5.4 billion euros and has about 39,000 employees worldwide.