Market observers believe Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Epistar is likely to report 2012 net losses due to losses incurred from investments. However, the benefits Epistar's acquisition of Huga Optotech are expected to show in 2013.
Epistar is Taiwan's biggest LED epitaxial crystal firm and the world's second-largest blue LED, and the largest red LED firm. Epistar has competitive advantages in market share and price-performance ratio. According to studies, the price-performance ratio of medium-power LED components from Taiwan-based tier-one firms reached 700-800lm/US$ in the fourth quarter of 2012. With technological improvement and price falls, the price-performance ratio is expected to exceed 1,000lm/US$ in 2013. Epistar hopes to achieve a brightness efficiency of 170lm/W in the second half of 2013.
Market observers believe after the acquisition of Huga, Epistar will begin to see slight profits in the second quarter and more significant profits in the third quarter. Market observers predict that Epistar's 2013 total revenues may reach NT$23.3 billion (US$787 million) with net profits of NT$720 million.
