Taiwan-based LED chip packaging house Unity Opto Technology saw its revenues of NT$514 million (US$17.6 million) for January 2013 decrease on month by 8.76% but increase 74.91% on year, while fellow maker Lextar Electronics had January revenues of NT$952 million rising 31.67% on month and 46.07% on year, according to the companies.
The sequential drop in January revenues was due to decreased orders for LED backlight units (BLUs) for LCD TVs, Unity Opto indicated. The company expects revenues for February to be flat or slightly grow on month.
Unity Opto saw BLUs as the major source of growth in its output value in 2012 and expects larger growth in BLU orders than in LED lighting orders in 2013, the company said.
Unity Opto has landed orders for more than one million 8W omni-directional LED light bulbs from US- and Europe-based vendors, with shipments to begin in the first quarter of 2013, the company said. The 8W omni-directional LED light bulbs feature a CRI (color rendering index) of over 80, brightness of 560-600 lumens and a weight of less than 100g, Unity Opto indicated.
Lextar's on-month and on-year growth in revenues was mainly due to its merger with affiliated maker Wellypower Optronics, the company indicated.
Lextar has been shipping direct-type BLUs for use in 32- to 55-inch LCD TVs and expects LED backlight penetration of LCD TVs to rise from 60-70% in 2012 to nearly 90% in 2013, the company noted. In addition, Lextar has obtained orders for LED lighting products from new clients in Japan and expects continued growth in LED lighting shipments to Japan in 2013.
