A California phosphor components company is literally lighting up a growing China market with a product line it thinks can lead the next generation of its industry.

Intematix Corp., based in Fremont, California since its founding in 2000, was recently named the leading phosphor supplier in China in 2011 by LED (light-emitting diode) market research firm Gaogong LED, and one of the seven most recognizable LED lighting brands by a leading Chinese lighting association.

In March, the company secured up to a $20 million investment from a bank for new business expansion for ChromaLit, which will be its major product line and focus for the next few years. Li Yiqun, the company's chief technology officer and executive vice president, developed the concept which packages phosphor in a different shape about five years ago.

"In the last year, Intematix introduced new ChromaLit remote phosphor products that enable high efficacy, high CRI (Color Rendering Index) and lower cost LED products for lighting," Li said. "Intematix growth is a part of LED growth for display backlighting which started from cell phones, notebooks, to television. We supply phosphor products to the dominant display customers who own a large part of those markets."

The Intematix product line fits in well with China's goal to reduce its pollution problem.

"Low carbon emission and energy saving are the top priority of China's government," Li said.

"The reason is simply that China needs to slow down its energy consumption because they have become the largest consumer in the world, resources are limited, and China has a big problem in air pollution because they did not have good control during these past 30 years. The Chinese Government believes LED lighting will be the key solution for both energy savings and low carbon emission," Li added.

Intematix recently opened a new 124,000-square-foot facility in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, to build up its manufacturing presence in the country. China is currently producing one-third of the world's LEDs (about $5.1 billion worth) at an annual growth rate of 18 percent.

"We have not associated much with the Chinese Government so far except in respect to our Chinese factory in Suzhou. Our phosphor components business will play an important role in the China LED lamp business and we are working on China solid-state lighting programs through China's top lamp makers," Li explained.

Intematix, which now offers 30 different products after adding 14 in the past year, started as a material discovery company, working closely with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

"California was the perfect location because of the Silicon Valley high tech environment and the talent resources. We also benefit by being close to Asia," Li said.

"For the first three years, we focused mostly on R&D, then in 2004, we started making commercial products, and then in 2010, came matured, developed products," Li said. Manufacturing is done in both Fremont and Suzhou, with 100 employees at each location. Eighty percent of the U.S. work force is American.

Li, who is from Beijing, first came to the United States in 1987 and studied at the Stevens Institute in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Now, 25 years later, Li's goals have changed dramatically. "We would like to sustain our phosphor leadership through innovations in phosphor materials and lighting solutions. We are expanding the business to serve the growing market of solid-state lighting. We would like to be number one in the phosphor business," he said.

"Intematix has built its phosphor leadership in the Chinese LED market by offering extensive product choice and working closely with our customers. We look forward to 2013 as the LED market in China continues to grow," he added.

The author is a contributor from New Jersey