LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker and LED packaging service provider Lextar Electronics, in view of fast growing demand for LED lighting, will expand its monthly LED epitaxial wafer production capacity by 20-25% from 300,000 wafers currently to 360,000-375,000 units in the first half of 2015, according to company chairman and CEO David Su.
Due to increasing orders for LED chips used in LED lighting from strategic partner US-based Cree, Lextar expanded monthly LED packaging capacity from 1.0 billion chips to 1.4 billion units in the second half of 2014, Su said. Lextar Electronics will focus capacity expansion on LED chips and LED light bulbs and tubes in the first half of 2015, Su noted.
For expanding LED epitaxial wafer production capacity, Lextar Electronics will remodel about 100 MOCVD sets at factories in Taiwan and China to increase production efficiency as well as adding new 4- and 6-inch MOCVD sets, Su indicated.
Due to orders for LED lighting products from 4-5 new clients in the US and about 10 clients in Europe, Lextar Electronics will expand production capacity for LED light bulbs and tubes through setting up fully automated assembly lines at its factory in Suzhou, eastern China, Su said. Lextar Electronics expects to ship more than 10 million LED light bulbs in 2015, Su noted.
While global demand for LED lighting is growing fast, that for LED backlighting is expected to remain flat in 2015, Su indicated. As a result, global overall LED demand in 2015 will increase on year by 10-20%, Su said.
