China-Based Tsinghua Tongfang Held a Ceremony for The Beginning of Production

China-based Tsinghua Tongfang held a ceremony for the beginning of production at its semiconductor and LED base in Nantong, China on August 8. The completion of the base, which includes organizing the property, building the plant, and beginning production of LEDs took only one year. It shows the determination of China-based firms to develop the LED industry mapped out by China's 12th five-year plan. There are currently six MOCVD sets in Beijing, according to Tsinghua Tongfang, and its plans to add another 100 units at the Nantong plant in two phases. Tsinghua Tongfang indicated the MOCVD machines are mainly from Veeco and Aixtron. The production of LED wafers will begin with 2-inch units, and the company plans to kick-off 4-inch production in the second quarter of 2012, according to Tsinghua Tongfang. The first phase of investment in Nantong will reach CNY3 billion (US$466 million) with CNY1 billion for MOCVD crystal growing furnaces and CNY2 billion for LED wafer production. According to Tsinghua Tongfang, the LED department will bring in revenues of CNY2.1-2.3 billion in 2011 with LED chips contributing CNY300-400 million in revenues. The Nantong base will contribute around CNY100 million and applications will bring in close to CNY2 billion. LED TV backlight modules account for 65% of applications, added Tsinghua Tongfang. Tsinghua Tongfang hopes to increase annual capacity of LED TV backlight modules to five million units from the current 3.5-4 million units by the second quarter of 2012. As for the LED lighting market, Tsinghua Tongfang pointed out the importance of cost. For the market for LED light bulbs to grow effectively, cost needs to be lower to stimulate demand. Indoor lighting will likely to grow in places that use lights for a long period of time. Which means the total cost of using LED lights in such areas will be lower than the cost of using traditional lighting, said Tsinghua Tongfang. China's LED streetlights and tunnel lights will become the world's largest regional market for LED outdoor lights, Tsinghua Tongfang concluded. Source: www. digitimes. com