According to the latest report by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, 2020 Deep UV LED Application Market and Branding Strategies, the rapid acceleration of COVID-19 has generated a corresponding boom in the disease-prevention business. Case in point, the demand for UV-C LED (wavelength≦280 nm), a type of LED with disinfection/sterilization properties, has skyrocketed since the Lunar New Year, in turn causing massive shortages across the entire supply chain. Given the extreme shortage of UV-C LED chips, LED package suppliers looking to place orders for these chips need to exercise caution when setting chip specifications; these suppliers may also need to bear the risk of possible chip shortages. The current shortage in the UV-C LED market has led to an adjustment to UV-C LED chip quotes, in turn resulting in purchasers being unable to procure chips even with at high bid prices. TrendForce Research Manager Joanne Wu indicates that some UV-C LED suppliers are already seeing order fulfillment schedules that will last till August 2020. In addition, owing to increased orders for UV-C LED, several suppliers are expected to see double-digit YoY growths in their UV-C LED revenues this year, in particular those that have maintained UV-C LED chip and package operations for many years, including Seoul Viosys, Asahi Kasei (Crystal IS), Stanley, Bioraytron (a joint venture by Epileds and HPLighting) and San’an Optoelectronics. UV-C LED chip suppliers primarily include San’an Optoelectronics, Photon Wave, Opto Tech, and Epileds.

LG Innotek announced it has supplied its sterilizing UV-C LED modules to LG Electroics’ home appliance. The company expects that this achievement will become the primer to expand its market for UV-C LEDs.