Cork-based Firecomms has been acquired by Chinese corporation the ZJF group in an all cash deal.
The terms of the deal have not been released but employment at Firecomms will increase from 18 to 30 over the next year due to a €5 million investment in research and development by the new Chinese owners.
Firecomms designs semiconductors which enables low-cost plastic fibre optic cables to be used for high speed communications in home, industrial and motoring applications.
The privately held ZJF Group is headquartered in Zhejiang, China and employs over 3,000 staff developing products based on plastic optical fibre. It supplies LED lighting products to major retailers including Walmart, Target and B&Q.
Firecomms chief executive Declan O'Mahoney said the deal would enable the Cork company to expand rapidly in China but ZJF would retain the Firecomms brand and all its staff.
The company was spun out of the Tyndall National INstitute in 2001. ZJF Group was one of its largest customers in China.
Firecomms backers included the Swiss state telco, Swisscom, which led a $5 million investment round in 2009, Japanese automotive electronics maker Alps Electric, London investment bank GP Bullhound, venture capital firms Atlantic Bridge and ACT Venture Finance, and State development agency Enterprise Ireland.
The deal is the first sale of an Irish technology company to a mainland Chinese corporation.