Mr. Bear Hsiung runs the Limate Corporation in Taipei, one of roughly half a dozen companies in Taiwan that manufacture laser pointers. Hsiung is a creative entrepreneur holding about 30 patents, a third of which are related to lasers. He has been involved with laser devices for about eight years and formed Limate about two and a half years ago. Limate is a small but expanding company on the third and fourth floors of a building in Taipei. Their main product line is laser modules, which includes laser pointers, laser gun sights, and other compact units based on directly using the collimated beam from a visible laser diode to point at something.
Applications range from laser pointers to gun sights to measurement and surveying instruments.
Limate currently has more than 60 module types available including modules that work under water, modules which produce lines instead of points, and even one where the beam dances around to entertain a pet. This greatly exceeds the supply of laser diodes available in Taiwan. Hsiung estimates the laser diode to be about half of the total parts cost of a typical laser module. Asked what advantage he would see in having the laser diodes produced in Taiwan, he replied that it comes down to cost and quality. Sufficient quality at the lowest cost will be chosen regardless of where it originates from.