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Illumina completes the divestiture of GRAIL

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GRAIL spin-off complete; GRAIL to begin regular way trading as “GRAL” on June 25Illumina to issue second quarter 2024 results on August 6; leadership to present Strategy Update on August 13

SAN DIEGO, June 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) today announced the successful completion of the spin-off of GRAIL. This milestone follows the company’s previously announced plans to divest GRAIL, and GRAIL is now a public and independent company. GRAIL will begin regular way trading on Nasdaq on Tuesday, June 25 under the ticker symbol “GRAL.” Illumina will continue to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ILMN.”

“With the completion of the spin-off of GRAIL, we have achieved our goal of divesting GRAIL in a manner that allows its breakthrough technology to continue benefiting patients,” said Jacob Thaysen, CEO of Illumina. “Illumina will maintain a minority share of 14.5% in the company. GRAIL plays a critical role in the fight against cancer, and while the company is no longer part of Illumina, we remain confident in its future and will continue to support GRAIL with our sequencing technology, end-to-end workflows, and suite of services.”

Later this week, Illumina will file an 8-K/A providing historical unaudited pro forma financial information and will provide supplemental non-GAAP information on its investor relations website at https://investor.illumina.com.

Illumina also announced it will issue results and host its earnings call for the second quarter of 2024 following the close of market on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Illumina will also host a virtual Strategy Update on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, beginning at 8:00 am Pacific Time (11:00 am Eastern Time) and running for approximately two hours. Additional details for these events will be announced in the coming weeks and provided on Illumina’s investor relations website, https://investor.illumina.com. Replays of these events will be posted on Illumina’s investor relations website after each event and for at least 30 days following.

“As we turn the page, we are excited to share our plan to accelerate topline growth, achieve operational excellence, deliver for our customers, and maximize value for shareholders in our upcoming strategy update,” said Thaysen. “Illumina is prepared to lead the next era of innovation in next generation sequencing by continuing to focus on strengthening our business and catalyzing the industry with an even greater focus on our customers’ priorities.”

Financing Information

As previously disclosed, on June 17, 2024, Illumina entered into a 364-day delayed draw credit agreement that provided for a senior unsecured term loan credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of up to $750 million. The credit facility was drawn in full on June 20, 2024, and the proceeds, together with cash from Illumina’s balance sheet, were used to fund cash to the balance sheet of GRAIL in connection with Illumina’s divestment of GRAIL. The current borrowing rate under the credit facility is approximately 6.70%.

Distribution Details

The separation was achieved through the distribution of 85.5% of the outstanding shares of GRAIL to holders of Illumina common stock at 12:01 a.m. ET on June 24, 2024 (the “Distribution Date”). In addition to retaining their shares of Illumina common stock, Illumina shareholders received one share of GRAIL common stock for every six shares of Illumina stock held as of close of business on the record date of June 13, 2024. Illumina retained 14.5% of the outstanding shares of GRAIL common stock.

On Tuesday, June 25, 2024, the first trading day following the Distribution Date, GRAIL will begin trading “regular way” on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “GRAL.” There will no longer be two markets in Illumina common stock and Illumina will continue to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ILMN.”

Fractional shares of GRAIL common stock were not distributed to Illumina shareholders and are instead being aggregated and sold in the open market. The net proceeds will be distributed pro rata, in cash, to Illumina shareholders who would otherwise have received a fractional share of GRAIL common stock.

For U.S. federal income tax purposes, Illumina’s U.S. shareholders (other than those subject to special rules) generally should not recognize a gain or loss as a result of the distribution of GRAIL shares, except with respect to cash received in lieu of fractional shares. Illumina shareholders are urged to consult with their tax advisors with respect to the U.S. federal, state, and local or foreign tax consequences, as applicable, of the spin-off.

For more information about the distribution, please contact the distribution agent, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., at 150 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021 or at the telephone number 877-373-6374.

Use of forward-looking statements

Some of the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements if one or more of the underlying assumptions or expectations prove to be inaccurate or are unrealized. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such expectations are and will be detailed in (i) with respect to Illumina, Illumina’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including in each case under the heading Risk Factors, and in Illumina’s other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and (ii) with respect to GRAIL, GRAIL’s registration statement on Form 10 filed with the SEC on May 6, 2024 (as amended and further supplemented). These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to certain risks, uncertainty, and changes in circumstances including, without limitation, whether the spin-off will be consummated on the expected terms, or at all. Neither Illumina nor GRAIL undertake responsibility for updating these statements, and these statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

About Illumina

Illumina is improving human health by unlocking the power of the genome. Our focus on innovation has established us as a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, serving customers in the research, clinical, and applied markets. Our products are used for applications in the life sciences, oncology, reproductive health, agriculture, and other emerging segments. To learn more, visit www.illumina.com and connect with us on X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

About GRAIL, Inc.

GRAIL, Inc., is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL is focused on alleviating the global burden of cancer by using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art machine learning, software, and automation to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types in earlier stages. GRAIL’s targeted methylation-based platform can support the continuum of care for screening and precision oncology, including multi-cancer early detection in symptomatic patients, risk stratification, minimal residual disease detection, biomarker subtyping, treatment and recurrence monitoring. GRAIL is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA with locations in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit grail.com

Contacts

Illumina investors:
Salli Schwartz
858-291-6421
IR@illumina.com 

Illumina media:
Bonny Fowler
740-641-5579
PR@illumina.com 

GRAIL investors:
Alex Dobbin
IR@grail.com 

GRAIL media:
Trish Rowland
Kristen Davis
PR@grail.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/illumina-completes-the-divestiture-of-grail-302180656.html

SOURCE Illumina, Inc.

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

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New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedInXFacebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

SOURCE Air Products

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