Reportedly, the Smart Lighting Engineering Research Centre (ERC) led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,  has set up 21 key industrial partners including Osram Sylvania and Taiwan-based Epistar to help guide the centre’s leading-edge research programs and hasten the transition of important innovations from the lab bench to the marketplace. The ERC is led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is dedicated to developing new LED technologies and applications for smarter, better-performing lighting devices and systems. At present, the ERC team i...

Epistar is a Taiwan-based professional LED chipmaker. In recent years, it has been quite active with a series of M&A and joint-venture strategies, making it the leader of Taiwan chipmakers. LEDinside is privileged to have invited B.J. Lee, its chairman to share Epistar’s business experiences and strategies.

Taiwan`s major LED maker posted lukewarm revenue records last mounth, sliping 2.74% from a month earlier, to NT$1.69 billion (US$59.2 million at US$1: NT$28.6); Everlight scoring 0.3% less revenue with NT$1.42 billion (US$49.6 million); and Edison Opto reporting a 3.2% contraction to NT$249 million (US$8.7 million). Executives from Epistar estimated the company`s gross margin for April to stand above 25% while the company itself estimated its monthly gross margin to surge 30%. Industry executives estimated packager Everlight`s revenue for the second quarter ...

The Metalorganic Technologies business of Dow Electronic Materials of Philadelphia, PA, USA (a business unit of Dow Advanced Materials) has received Epistar’s first Supplier Award. Dow was recognized for “ensuring the supply of precursor materials, improving product quality, providing excellent material and process support for manufacturing, offering superior customer communications and achieving high customer satisfaction”. Epistar’s chairman Dr BJ Lee upon presenting the award on 30 March at its facility in Hsinchu, Taiwan, commented...

Taiwan Epistar has ordered Aixtron G5 HT reactors in a 14x4-inch configuration for high brightness LEDs. Aixtron G5 HT reactor is a further endorsement of G5´s very rapid time-to-production and excellent system-to-system reproducibility. Ming-Jiunn Jou, President of Epistar, was please with the new reactors and thought that it will form the backbone of their planned capacity expansion for their high brightness LED production program. It’s said that the systems are delivered in the first and second quarter of 2011. Aixtron´s local support tea...

Reportedly, Epistar has intended to inject US$75 million to set up an epitaxy wafer factory in Guangzhou of mainland China with Delta Electronics. The joint venture calls for total investment of US$210 million, with Epistar set to pay 70% and Delta to pay the remainder. And it is another collaboration deal after the cooperation on high-voltage LED technology. It’s estimated that the joint venture will give a boost to both companies’ goal of becoming heavyweight LED lighting suppliers in the mainland.  ...

According to institutional investors, based on the Japanese government will focus more on use of renewable energy and LEDs after the destructive catastrophe, Taiwanese LED industry may benefit from Japan`s post-earthquake reconstruction . Due to the massive earthquake and the recent nuclear power crisis in Japan, it’s likely to concentrate on the use of renewable energy and green products. It’s estimated that the post-earthquake reconstruction will cost the country several trillion Japanese yen and LEDs will be increasingly needed in Japan. As a result, T...

Aiming at tapping mainland China LED lighting market further, Everlight is reported to pour US$10.8 million to acquire approximately 9% ownership in an LED venture co-held by Epistar and China Electronics Corp. (CEC). Among the partners, CEC holds a 44% stakes in the venture, outnumbering Epistar`s 40% ownership. The venture is designated to supply CEC all of the chips it makes. And according to Epistar executives, besides the venture, Epistar will be another chip supplier of CEC.The venture will contract Everlight to package its chips for CEC back...

It’s reported that Taiwanese LED chip maker Epistar will team up with Delta Electronics to build an LED wafer and chip plant in Guangzhou. And The new facility is expected to engage in the development, manufacture and sale of upstream LED wafers and chips after it starts operating in 2012. It’s said that the two partners will invest a total of NT$3.63 billion (US$125 million) in the first phase. Epistar will hold a 70 percent stake and Delta Electronics will own 30 percent. In the second phase of the development, they will seek new partners from th...

Reportedly, Taiwan LED maker Epistar has acquired Apple’s order for LED backlights for use in iPad. Benefiting from increasing LED applications in TV, notebook PCs and lightings, Epistar confirmed that its production lines have been fully booked by contract orders till this June. This secures the firm strong growth momentum in sales and shipments in the first half of 2011.  ...

Reportedly, Taiwan Delta Electronics made a plan to roll out a total of 62 LED lighting products under 29 series and three intelligent control systems in 2011. Additionally, the company has been partnered with Epistar to develop 800-lumen, 8W warm-white LED light bulbs and intended to turn out these new products on a large scale as well as to sale in the first quarter of 2011.  ...

LED chipmaker Epistar's revenues for December were NT$1.44 billion (US$49.24 million), dropped 13% compared to November. The revenues for the full year in 2010 reached NT$19.76 billion, up 55% from 2009.

Recently, LED chipmaker Epistar decided to issue euro convertible bonds (ECBs) worth US$280 million, with using for paying back previous US dollar-based loans and for future equipment purchases. Epistar noted, although it’s said LED industry would display over supply in 2011, the company remained optimistic about the future potential LED market growth, and was ready for capacity expansion for future demand. In the LED lighting market, the company planed to expand its capacity to meet continuing growing demand.

China's central government held its first-ever open tender for LED products in November. 28 Chinese-funded companies have won the bid, and many of them have promised to use Epistar's crystalline grains, which means that Epistar grasped the opportunity to join the government-funded green light projects.

The full-year revenues for Taiwan-based LED chip maker Epistar was expected to reach NT$20 billion in 2010, up 50% compared to 2009. And Net income for 2010 will range from NT$5.5-6 billion. Meanwhile, the company would take NT$800 million for the employee bonuses, and everyone would receive over NT$200,000 on average, with 3,700 employees. Also, Epistar planed to raise salaries by 8% on average.

At the recent Beijing-Taiwan Science and Technology Forum held in Taichung, Taiwan, a leader of Taiwan-based LED chip maker Epistar said, if production cost of lighting-grade LED chips would fall to US$1/500lm in the next 2-3 years, LED lighting's market penetration would reach 20-30% in 2012.

According to Mike Bryant, CTO of Future Horizons at the Industry Forecast Seminar 2010 in London, LED TVs is the star product of the electronics industry this year. Bryant’s opinion was mainly based on the picture quality of LED TVs which is far superior to traditional LCD TV.

LED chipmaker Epistar November revenues decreased to NT$1.663 billion (US$55.161 million), down 2.8% sequentially but up 26.4% from 2009. Revenues from January through November grew 60.16% on year to NT$18.327 million.

Taiwan LED chipmaker Epistar has teamed up with China Electronics Corp (CEC), one of China’s state-owned conglomerates, to set up a joint venture, aiming at tapping into an expected boom in demand for LEDs across the Strait.

Recently, LED chipmaker Epistar thought those reports was a rumor, that Epistar, Lumens and backlight unit (BLU) maker Hansol LCD would set up a joint venture in eastern China, with 10 billion won (US$8.84 million), 30 billion won and 10 billion won investment respectively. Epistar spokesman Chang Shie-Shien noted that Epistar hadn』t known anything about the deal and nothing related to it was being discussed.

Taiwan LED chipmaker Epistar and Formosa Epitaxy, LED backlighting started to pick up in November 2010 and would increase in March 2011, with the vendors completing inventory adjustments. Epistar indicated that vendors had begun to order production with completing inventory adjustments, especially from Korea-based packaging houses.

Taiwan LED chip Supplier Epistar has acquired a 40% stake in Nan Ya Photonics for NT$1 billion to support the reinvested company for the output expansion. According to Epistar`s president, M.J. Chou, the reinvestment will pay off in 2011, when Epistar can secure expanded supply of LED lightings through Nan Ya Photonics.

Taiwan LED manufacturer Epistar has designed a High-Voltage (HV) chip that enables the cold white LED to reach 162 lm/W. The new HV-LED features less power consumption and higher wall plug efficiency because of its robust new high voltage chip design. The flexibility of voltage and current adjustment of HV-LED can simplify the LED package and circuit design so that its overall efficiency is enhanced.

LEDinside has recently conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Guowei Xiao, APT’s Managing Director, who explained why the price of APT’s high power HB LED chips goes against the price downtrend.

Recently, Taiwan-based LED companies reported their October revenues.

As the ensuing demands for LED backlights, the world's first-tier manufacturers of brand computers have scheduled to tap into tablet PCs in the first quarter 2011, therefore Taiwan's industry executives predict it will create business for Taiwan's LED makers when the market for TV backlights started losing growth steam in the third quarter. According to Taiwan's industry executives, tablet PC backlights are particularly suitable for manufacturers specializing in small and medium backlights for uses in mobile phones and digital photo frames.

It’s reported that Taiwan Delta Electronics has made a contract with Osram for LED light bulbs using chipmaker Epistar `s high-voltage chip, a solution to making LED luminaires adaptable to household 110-220V power outlets.

Recently, a leader of Epistar noted, LED-backlit TV market penetration would reach 40% in 2011 from 20% in 2010, and Epistar planed to ramp up capacity by 30% in 2011 after already raising its capacity by 30-40% in 2010. The leader pointed out that because of upstream material shortage, seasonal impacts, downstream LED TV customers adjusting inventory and in the process of transferring to newer models, 4Q10 may become a difficult time for LED backlight companies.

According to Taiwan's largest LED chip maker Epistar President M.J. Jou's report on the sidelines of the LED Forum 2010 in Taipei, the global penetration rate of LED-backlit TV sets will likely double to 40 percent in 2011, but it expected Q4 of 2010 to remain slow. Jou also predicted that global shipments of LED TVs would grow in 2011 at twice the rate seen in 2010, but he did not offer specific figures.

In 3Q10, Epistar's consolidated revenues reached NT$5.68 billion, up 8.3% sequentially. Gross margin was 40.7%, up from 39% in 2Q. Operating income was NT$1.7 billion with operating margin of 30%. Net profit was NT$1.9 billion up 12% sequentially. For the first three quarters of 2010, Epistar consolidated revenues totaled NT$15.9 billion, gross margin 39.5%, and operating income NT$4.63 billion with 29% operating margin. Net profits were NT$4.6 billion with an EPS of NT$5.81.