According to reports, Bingjie Li, the chairman of Epistar stated on June 9 that Epistar considers terminating the cooperation with Luminus Devices purchased by Sanan at $ 22 million a few days ago.
In recent years, Epistar has being faced major challenge from Sanan, it not only dugs talents from Epistar, it also follows the steps of Epistar in the layout of blue LED products.
The action that Saman entered AlGaInP LED from the blue LED has become a topic the industry discussing on the competition between Epistar and Sanan in the past year, especially when the capacity utilization rate of Epistar AlGaInP LED in the second quarter was 80%, it has been widely rumored that Saman has grabbed orders from Epistar, but Bingjie Li stressed that the order of AlGaInP LED in the first quarter of this year was not robbed, but the market changes.
Bingjie Li pointed out that the main competitor of Epistar in AlGaInP LED is still Osram, however, Osram is still focused on the automotive market, in view of that the Epistar AlGaInP LED has not yet fully loaded, mainly because outdoor display board is moving toward higher resolution, but the situation is getting better, the capacity utilization in May and June has increased to 85%.
In addition to the blue LED market, also Saman is actively layouting in the markets to catch up with Epistar. Sanan announced on June 4 that the wholly owned subsidiary Lightera intends to purchase 100% equity interest of Luminus at $ 22 million. It is understood that Luminus specializes in the the development and production of high-brightness lighting devices.
In addition to Epistar, Luminus also cooperates with other partners in technology patents, such as Nichia and Seoul semiconductors, Bingjie Li said that once Luminus become a subsidiary of Saman, Epistar will consider to terminate the co-operation with Luminus.
