Sapphire substrate makers report mixed August revenues Siu Han,Taipei;Jackie Chang,DIGITIMES[Wednesday 12 September 2012]Sapphire substrate firms such as Crystalwise and Crystal Applied have both reported on-month decreases in August revenues.Crystalwise saw August revenues fall to NT$90 million(US$3.04 million)while Crystal Applied saw revenues fall to NT$102 million.The only exception was Tera Xtal which reported August revenues of NT$153 million,representing an on-month increase of 11%.Tera Xtal noted that shipments increased in August,however,on-month growth was lower than expected.The firm expects September revenues to be flat or lower than August revenues.
Despite the fact that LED epitaxial wafer firms expect to run at full capacity throughout September,sapphire substrate makers noted that customers have been slow in picking up shipments.Also,the price of 2-and 4-inch substrates has been falling.
Prices for 2-and 4-inch sapphire wafers have dropped to US$8/unit and US$40-50/unit,and pricing for 2-inch PSSs(patterned sapphire substrates)has slipped to about US$16/unit,according to Taiwan-based sapphire wafer makers.
Total reported August revenues of Taiwan-based LED firms were NT$9.49 billion(US$320 million),showing an on-month increase of 2.64%and an on-year increase of 7.6%,according to market watchers.Total August revenues of upstream epitaxial wafer firms were NT$4.1 billion,showing a slight on-month decrease of 1.3%and on-year increase of 1.5%,the watchers indicated.As for LED packaging houses,total August revenues showed an on-month growth of 5.85%and on-year growth of 12.8%,reaching NT$5.39 billion.Everlight showed the most significant on-month increase at 11%among Taiwan-based LED packaging houses.
Due to protectionism measures in China,Taiwan-based sapphire substrate firms have yet to successfully enter the China market.
