In view of fast growing demand for LED lighting in the US, the largest China-based LED packaging service provider MLS has expanded monthly production capacity of LED light bulbs and tubes to 10 million units, while Taiwan-based Unity Opto Technology will raise its monthly capacity from 2-3 million LED light bulbs currently to over four million units in the first half of 2015, according to the companies.
The US government began to prohibit the sale and import of 40W and 60W incandescent bulbs in 2014 and has had power-generating companies offer subsidies for the purchase of LED light bulbs with Energy Star certification, resulting in prices as low as US$5-6 for an LED light bulb in the US market.
Since there are many types of retail channels for LED lighting in Europe, it is difficult for newcomers to build up their retail networks. Meanwhile, the Japan market shows domestic protectionism. As a result, the US has become the main overseas market for China-based LED lighting vendors, MLS said. LED penetration of all lighting products in the US will rise from about 3% at the end of 2013 to 10% in 2014, MLS indicated.
In line with expansion of LED lighting production capacity, MLS is hiking monthly LED packaging capacity from 20 billion LED chips currently to 24 billion units at the end of 2014, and further to 30 billion units in the first half of 2015, the company said.
Unity Opto has become a supplier of LED light bulbs for large retail chains in the US market including Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target, the company said.
