Intense market competition from Chinese manufacturers and deluge of LED suppliers on the market has made cost reducing strategies crucial for LED chip manufacturers’ survival. To cope in an increasingly low profit industry, LED chip manufacturers are developing more advanced and efficient LED chip technologies, finding cheaper chip materials, or exploring untapped niche markets. Representatives from global top LED chip manufacturers Epistar, Osram, Philips Lumileds (Lumileds), and Cree addressed these pressing issues recently at 2015 LED Executive Summit hosted by SEMI at TILS 2015, TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall.

HC Semitek reported exponential revenue growth during 2014 fiscal year, reported Chinese-media Sina.

Samsung Electronics will be scaling up investments in LED chip business this year, specifically in silicon substrate based LED technology, according to a Money DJ report.

What is “Vapor Chamber” Vapor Chambers provide far superior thermal performance than traditional solid metal Heat spreaders at reduced weight and height. Thermal spread resistance is almost neglectable and thermal resistance is x times lower than (refer to copper, carbon nanotube compound, nano diamond compound). Vapor Chambers enable higher component heat densities and TDPs(Thermal Design Power) at safe operating temperatures, extending the components and products life.

The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Progress Committee has recognized the innovative QHC LED fixture by Precision-Paragon [P2] as a “unique and significant advancement to the art and science of lighting.”

“When I check my phone, there are always a lot of messages from LED manufacturers,” said ETI Chairman Wang Donglei, while pointing to his phone.

Everlight plans to invest NT $30 billion (US $944.31 million) on production expansion in the next five years in Taiwan to compete in the international market, according to a news report from UDN.

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.

Last Saturday evening, rumors began to surface on Chinese social media platform Weixin that Jiangmen Guojing Opto (國晶光電), a subsidiary of Juliang Electric Technology Group (Juliang), was being pressured by more than 100 suppliers to pay up. Shortly after the incident, suppliers lost contact with Juliang’s CEO, while suppliers formed a barricade around the factory entrance.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar’s has showed steady revenue growth, accumulated revenue as of September 2014 has reached last year's total annual revenue of US $750 million, and it’s future revenue outlook remains positive. The company's merge with FOREPI is expected to further drive annual revenue growth to reach the $1 billion target soon, said Epistar Deputy Director of Marketing Center, Dr. Chiu-Lin Yao at LEDforum 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan last month.

Price competitions are affecting almost every aspect of the LED industry, and are observed in manufacturers chip technology developments, such as the emergence of Chip Scale Package (CSP) LEDs.

Taiwanese mid-power LED chip manufacturer and packager Prolight Opto recently submitted listing applications to the Taiwan bourse. The application is expected to be completed by the end of this quarter. Top Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar is one of Prolight Opto’s investors.

U.S. LED manufacturer Cree’s stocks dropped to US $41.1 recently, after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stocks from buy to neutral, according to a report by China Post. As Cree’s lighting revenue increases, Taiwanese manufacturers believe Cree’s business focus is turning towards downstream.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, and Lextar Electronics Corporation (TAIEX: 3698), today announced that the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Cree will make an investment in Lextar and the companies will enter into a supply agreement for sapphire-based LED chips. As part of the agreement, Cree will invest approximately US $83 million to purchase 83 million Lextar shares at a price of NT$30 (US $1.00) per share. 

LED chip manufacturer Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) announced that June revenue reached NT $397 million (US $13.2 million), down 5.82 percent MoM, but growth of 27.54 percent YoY. Revenue for 2Q14 was NT $1.2 billion, up 10.68 percent compared to 1Q14. 

China based Elech-Tech’s Yangzhou subsidiary has begun mass production of LED wafers. Equipment used at its Yangzhou factory are mainly 14x4” MOCVD wafer production units from U.S. manufacturer Veeco. The company currently has 12 units in operation with a yearly production capacity of 190,000 pcs, which can then produce 50,000 chips. 

Lattice Power may not be a household name now in the LED chip industry, but the China based startup is already creating cheaper LED technology that could give large international manufacturers a run for their money. The company has ambitious development plans, recently securing US $80 million in financing to advance production and establish a U.S. based R&D center.   

LED price for lighting applications have dropped around 3-7 percent in 2Q14. Similarly, backlight-use LED prices have also seen a decline, dipping around 5-10 percent, with direct-type TV backlight-use LEDs decreasing by 13 percent due to fierce market competition, according to the recent price report from LEDinside, the green energy research division of TrendForce.

The rebounding LED lighting market spurred Chinese package manufacturers to expand in 2013, with expansions expected to be concentrated in 2014 as a result. But with chip production capacity expansion cycles taking much longer in comparison, subtle changes in the LED chip supply and demand relationship have occurred. With dispersed suppliers and chip prices more susceptible to price fluctuations, chip manufacturers have been unable to greatly raise prices leading to intensified chip shortages.

The LED industry is facing supply shortage. From upstream chip manufacturers to downstream package manufacturers are unable to adequately meet demands. In general, the industry, however, estimates May revenue will be even better. As the LED lighting market advances, China market insiders estimate the country’s LED market annual demand growth will surpass 30 percent, according to DZH News. LED chip production will increase to 10 percent during the first half of 2014, while supply and demand will tighten during the second half. 

LED chips are a core component in the LED industry. There are currently many domestic and international LED chip manufacturers in China, but there currently are no categorization standards, according to a report by Chinese-language LEDtimes.cc. Comparison of chip technologies show foreign companies are more innovative, while Chinese manufacturers are still focused on production volume.

Lime, the newest addition to the widely renowned LUXEON color portfolio of LEDs from Philips Lumileds, enables lighting designers to take the next step in delivering the highest quality, tunable white light in bulbs and fixtures. 

Elite Optoelectronic (EOC) is a worldwide material producer, and one of the major products is transparent conductive ink. The transparent conductive film (TCF) fabricated using EOC’s ink has supplied to several touch sensor makers. In 2012, EOC combined the TCF technology and LED chip to form a novel and creative product: Transparent Flexible LED Light (TFLL). 

UBS: LED chip supply and demand has balanced out, increase in shipment volume and gross profit possible in the future.Expansion of chip production in 2013 was limited and around 20-30 percent produced was invalid. With LED lighting rapidly growing, supply and demand for the domestic LED chip industry has already balanced out. We anticipate that LED chips will increase both in shipments and gross profit in 2014. Leading manufacturers with advantages in scale and cost and with government backing have the potential  to increase competitiveness.

Global market research firm TrendForce's Green Energy Division LEDinside said that, in 2013 the LED chips total revenues of mainland Chinese companies(which mainly based on mainland investment, similarly hereinafter) reached 992 M USD, with a year-on-year growth of 17%, and is expected to reach 1182 M USD in 2014. According to LEDinside analyst Allen Yu, in 2013, being influenced by the rapidly enhanced penetration of LED commercial lighting, chip capacity utilization has largely improved, however due to continuous decline in chip price, the growth rate o...

The LED market for 2014 will see continued growth for the general lighting market and supply shortage of LED chips due to increasing demands from the LED lighting market, according to a recent report from UBS. In the report, the financial service company provides their outlook for Everlight and Epistar 2014 operation performance.

According to LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, starting from August 2012, at least 5 M&A cases occurred in China and Taiwan; Epistar, for example, acquired 49% of Huga’s equity, and Sanan Opto acquired 120 million of FOREPI’s common stock. LEDinside indicated that starting from 2010, Chinese LED chip industries have aggressively invested in chips and caused severe oversupply in the market; chip price has continued to decline, and most industries have been struggling to survive in the industry. Even with the economic recovery, upstream LED chip manufacturers still failed to extricate themselves from the oversupply situation. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that M&A is the only solution to this problem.

According to LEDinside, the LED research division of TrendForce, Taiwanese listed LED manufacturers posted a total revenue of NT$6,917 million (MoM-14.8%, YoY+5.1%) as of December, 2012. As the fourth quarter is the traditional offseason, and branded TV vendors delayed the replenishment of their stocks, LED manufacturers’ fourth-quarter revenue was put to the test. Affected by the offseason effect in the LED backlight market, many Taiwanese LED manufacturers started to set eyes on the LED bidding market such as bulbs and street lights. However, in the face of keen competition in the market, most vendors have aggressively reduced their prices to win the bid, further dampening Taiwanese LED manufacturers’ profitability.

According to LEDinside, the LED research division of TrendForce, revenues of listed Taiwanese LED firms totaled NT$8.95 billion (MoM+1.68%, YoY+2.4%) in July 2012. According to LEDinside research, TV annual shipment for 2012 will see a mere 5% YoY growth, whereas monitor shipment will suffer a downturn. Notebook demand for 3Q12 is expected to be weak, but new products releases in Mid-3Q12 will pick up the demand and make the annual shipment stay flat compared to that in 2011. As for smartphones, annual shipment forecast revised from 660 million units to 606...

According to LEDinside, the LED research division of TrendForce, the June revenues of Taiwanese listed LED manufacturers totaled NT$8.8 billion (MoM+1.12%, YoY-5.6%). Benefiting from the climbing demand for consumer electronic appliances and the traditional lighting peak season, the LED industry’s 2Q12 revenue reached NT$25.82 billion (QoQ+22.7%). Looking towards the second half of 2012, the LED industry will face a severe challenge – affected by the lukewarm economic outlook and the European debt crisis, the future for end market does not seem b...