Lextar Electronics, a Taiwan-based maker of LED epitaxial wafers and chips, expects to obtain certification from Apple for enabling users of iOS mobile devices to make smart remote control of LED lighting, adjustment in color temperature, brightness and tone of LED lighting based on Bluetooth modules, in one to two months, according to company chairman David Su.
Lextar offers smart LED lighting control based on Android in 2011 and the company is developing Bluetooth software and hardware for applications for Apple certification, Su noted. Lextar expects to become the first provider of iOS-based control of LED lighting.
Of Lextar's shipments of LED chips used in lighting, Japan accounts for 30-40%, Europe for 20-25%, Asia Pacific for 20% and the US for 10%.
The proportion of LCD TVs for LED-backlit models will rise from 40% in 2011 to 70% in 2012, Su indicated. Of Lextar's shipments of LED chips in 2012, 60% will be used for backlight and 40% for lighting, Su said. Lextar expects its utilization of LED production capacity to rise from 80% in the second quarter of 2012 to 90% in the third one, Su pointed out.
Lextar will complete its factory in Suzhou, eastern China, in the third quarter of 2012 and begin installation of MOCVD sets from the second half of 2012 to 2013, Su said. Lextar's factory in Taiwan is equipped with 70-80 MOCVD sets of which two-thirds have been used to produce 4-inch wafers, with the remaining sets to be upgraded for production of 4-inch wafers in the rest of 2012 and 2013.
