LED lighting remains the largest market for sapphire application. LED has become a huge competitor for traditional lighting despite of higher costs. High prices, however, are a temporary problem. At-Vac believes that continual advancement of epitaxial wafer technology and LED lighting equipment’s current price fall trend will help lower retail prices. 

The LED industry’s fierce price competition is putting manufacturers under increasing pressure to cut costs. To stand out from the crowd, Russia based manufacturer Monocrystal has sought alternative sapphire substrate market applications other than LEDs, such as smartphone markets. Mikhail Berest, Senior VP Global Sales Director, Monocrystal sheds light on the company’s sapphire substrate technology that has enabled these high end applications at day one of LEDforum Taipei 2013 that took place at Evergreen International Convention Center on Oct. 16-17, 2013.