After Apple abandoned using sapphire protective glass covers in the iPhone 6 last year, sapphire substrates have been viewed as the equivalent to market speculation in the investment market. Following GT Advanced Technology’s (GTAT) bankruptcy filing in early October 2014, the idea of applying sapphire material in consumer electronics has become ridiculed on the mainstream market.

Recent patent litigations launched by major LED companies aim straight at latecomers in Chinese and Taiwanese LED industry, who have insufficient patent portfolio. The LED market will be restructured to focus on major LED companies with extensive patent portfolio and technological strengths.

“Market uncertainties” are corporates top concern when entering any new market. Local regulations, cash flows and logistics are all essential information foreign companies need to acquire.

Global LED package market is estimated to achieve US $14.6 billion in 2014, and grows at a CAGR of 3.2% during 2014-2018. Among all LED applications, LED lighting has the highest estimated revenue of US $4.8 billion in 2014, soaring with a CAGR of 12%. These figures suggest that LED lighting market has entered a high growth phase. Nevertheless, the prices of LED lighting products, such as lighting bulbs and tubes show a steady downfall trend.

The Chinese LED package industry entered another production expansion peak in 2H14, with many large LED package manufacturers announcing production expansion plans.

One of the main LED industry indicators to look into in 2014 is manufacturers exponentially growing production volume. Where did this production capacity come from? Production capacity seen in 2014 mostly came from 2Q13 LED package expansions. A cloud of doom crept over the industry in 2012, as the industry’s oversupply situation triggered price wars and bankruptcy tsunami. Yet, in 2Q13 severe LED package shortages emerged as the slumping lighting market abruptly boomed. Many LED package manufacturers shared an optimistic market outlook at the time, some even doubled production capacity in a relatively short period.

More manufacturers are turning to emerging markets that hold high growth potential as maturing U.S., Europe and Japanese markets become saturated. Emerging markets including India, Thailand, and Russia hold many business opportunities for LED manufacturers, due to their high reliance on LED chips, components and package imports.

In late 2013, LEDinside team forecasted major company restructure market trends will continue throughout the year. The trend has been consistent in 2014, as more lighting manufacturers take necessary restructure measures to remain competitive in the market, such as Philips, Epistar or NVC Lighting. Top players restructure decisions in the fast changing LED industry landscape further reinforces the trend that large companies will become even bigger and influential, while smaller manufacturers will find it increasingly difficult to compete.

The Thai LED market has emerged as a market holding great potential, government statistics estimate the current LED market value has reached 80 billion Thai baht (US $), said Dennis Stech, Vice President, of Hatari LED at EcoLightTech Asia 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand in mid-November. However, the country’s unstable political situation might lead to lower LED industry growth rates in 2015.

While the LED industry was still reeling from news of Epistar’s acquisition of FOREPI, Philips dropped another bomb shell, announcing the merger of its LED component and automotive lighting assets on June 30, 2014. 

The merge between Taiwan’s top LED chip manufacturers Epistar and FOREPI will no doubt be remembered as one of the most significant events in the LED industry in 2014. Market rumors about the two companies potential “marriage” first surfaced in 2007, but has been repeatedly denied by Epistar. The company’s last minute press conference announcement about the merger on June 30, 2014 sent shockwaves throughout the industry.

A review of 2013 LED products indicates package free products have been under the industry lime light for the whole year. The new trendsetter in the LED industry is not an innovative technology, LED manufacturers have already invested resources in package free LED R&D for several years. As the market becomes increasingly mature, there is no doubt that 2013 is a package free year. Many companies are hoping to enter this market including big international brands, such as Toshiba, Cree and Philips Lumileds. Other companies that have shown interest include Taiwanse L...

The global LED driver IC market saw old manufacturers expanding, and new manufacturers dividing market share in 2013. Due to strong demands for LED bulbs and LED tubes, many manufacturers are competing in AC to DC and DC to DC sectors of the LED IC driver market. Many new and old products have been released on the market.

Apple has done it again. In 2013, the company drove up sapphire substrate smartphone demands with the adoption of the material in iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S home buttons and camera lens covers. It does not stop there, though. The company’s recent patent applications reveal intentions of introducing sapphire substrate onto flexible wearable OLED device covers, which is likely to ignite new sapphire demands in 2014.

Looking back in 2013, the LED industry has finally rebounded after years of depression. Large manufacturers are taking advantage of other companies during their weak moments, burying the hatchet with well matched companies, or joining hands to defeat competitors. Many less competitive weaker companies  receded from the market this year. The survival of the fittest is anticipated to continue well into 2014. Restructuring of LED chip and package manufacturers will continue until 2015-2016, remarked Epistar chairman B.J. Lee.

With LED lighting demands rapidly growing, questions regarding safety and whether blue light found in LEDs can affect health are being discussed now more than ever. Affects on health that are the heart of discussion within the industry include whether long term exposure can affect the release of melatonin and if looking directly at blue light can lead to degeneration of retinal tissue.

With the LED industry rebounding in 2013 due to developments in LED lighting, patent disputes between LED manufactures continue to rage on with no end in sight. The most notable has been the long fought out dispute between Japanese LED package manufacturer Nichia and Taiwanese package manufacturer Everlight, dragging their patent war through courts in Japan, China, the U.S., Germany, and more. Lawsuits between Nichia and Taiwanese LED package manufactures Unity Opto and Harvatek have also garnered a lot of news coverage. Aside from package manufactures, Korean TV manufacturer heavy weights Samsung and LG also drew a lot of attention during their patent dispute over OLED technology.

In the previous article we highlighted how China’s LED industry faces serious over subsidy situation due to overlapping funds issued by local and central governments. Compared to the Chinese government’s generous LED subsidy programs to manufacturers, the EU and U.S. are more focused on establishing new energy efficiency standards Some Chinese media outlets have interpreted this as setting up technical barriers. In this article we take a look at whether these claims are true.

Good government policies can help propel an industry forward but bad ones can hinder development. Although China’s policies are aimed at developing the LED industry, the subsidies have gotten out of control recently, said LEDinside Director Roger Chu. These policies can pose long term issues for the LED industry, as the government continues to issue subsidies despite  oversupply situations.

As 2013 comes to a close, LED lighting demands have sky rocketed. The industry has finally gotten past two years of harsh winters  to welcome a warm spring. While LED upstream manufactures have been busy with flip-chip technology, LED package manufacturers have not been idle either. Introducing EMC lead frames into package manufacturing process has become the main target for many manufacturers.

In recent years, LED technology has been the fastest growing in solid-state lighting, with a market penetration rate estimated to exceed 60 percent in 2014, according to LEDinside. Rapid improvement and the ever-increasing interest of large electronic manufacturers in OLED technology could lead OLEDs into the spotlight in 2017, analyzed LEDinside.

Lighting is no longer just about providing enough light in a given space, but rather about allowing users to both feel and experience light in ways that can benefit their health and mood. LED technology is making es smart lighting possible.

Starting next year, the U.S. government phase out of incandescent bulbs goes into effect in hopes of encouraging consumers to switch to more energy efficient lighting. Although consumers recognize the benefit of LEDs, the high prices are still hard to swallow. That however is all about to change with companies such as Cree and Walmart launching LED bulbs at cost-friendly prices. With prices as low as US $ 10, LED manufacturers are feeling the heat in the increasingly fierce price competition.

Sapphire substrates have been around for a very long time. First chemically synthesized by French chemist Auguste Verneuil in 1909, sapphire has developed from fake jewelry in 1940s, SOS applications in 1960s, to military applications in late 1960s, according to a paper by Daniel Harris, Naval Air Systems Command, China Lake, California. U.S. and Russian manufacturers dominated military application fields before Asian manufacturers found their golden opportunity in LED applications. 

Before 2012, the largest market for sapphire substrate applications was LED and the entry of many players led to an oversupply situation, with most manufacturers still suffering from losses, according to LEDinside analysts. Sapphire substrate prices remained low over the last two years due to this oversupply situation, according to a LEDinside report published in May 2013. Over the last few months, though, developments in the industry especially in the non-LED application field have shown a likely price rebound in 2014.

The LED and sapphire substrate industry has a very close relationship. Through the use of industrial equipment, crystals are grown from raw materials which are then grinded into crystal bars. These bars are then sliced into sapphire substrate wafers. The majority of which are supplied to LED production. Due to the hardness and suitable structure of sapphire substrate for LED applications, the two have long been used in combination. 

Non-LED sapphire substrate applications have remained off manufacturers radar for a while. Even in 2013, the sapphire substrate industry is dominated by LED applications, while non-LED remains relatively small with around 36% market share, according to LEDinside’s latest sapphire substrate report. However, a consistent trend in 2013 has been the rise of smartphone sapphire substrate applications mostly leads by Apple’s introduction of sapphire substrate into iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S. But what about other applications?

Sapphire substrate application has come a long way from the original usage in military applications in the 1960’s. This year alone has seen some major shifts in application with Apple’s new integration of sapphire substrate into smartphone design. While LEDs and general lighting continue to make up a major chunk of sapphire substrate market share, non-LED application usage has had a dramatic increase this year. Increasing penetration rates for LEDs and rise in non-LED applications, the next few years look bright for sapphire substrate market growth. 

Automotive lighting has evolved from just merely lighting up the road ahead to beautiful interior decoration. As seen at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, automotive lighting applications are evolving. LEDinside’s car lighting specialist Duff Lu shares insights on lighting trends in this article.

Allen Yu, LEDinside analyst in Shanghai, talks about Chinese LED display manufacturers shift into the media sector in this article. Yu gives insights about the pros and cons for manufacturers transiting into the media sector.