The market for chip-on-board (COB) LEDs and multi-chip array COBs will grow significantly from $1.5bn in 2014 to $4.4bn in 2020, including 40% growth from 2014 to 2015, according to the report 'The World Market for COB LEDs in General Lighting' from market research firm Strategies Unlimited.
Long-term growth is due mainly to the increased penetration of COBs into directional and high-lumen applications. "COBs have a better light distribution and design flexibility than other package types, which makes them more adapted to applications where you need to direct light, need a large quantity of usable lumens, or both," comments research analyst Martin Shih.
The report offers insight into the total lighting market through 2020 by covering all applications of luminaires and lamps, including troffers, downlights, spotlights, street lights, high-bay, MR-16, reflectors, and other replacement lamps.
For a few years now, there have been many proponents that claimed mid-power packaged LEDs were going to supplant all other LEDs in lighting applications, says Strategies Unlimited. The train of thought was that, since mid-power LEDs are cheaper, companies will just pack luminaires with more of these LEDs to get the desired lumen output. Strategies Unlimited has determined that this trend is shifting, as it is much easier to design certain luminaires with higher-power LEDs and as COB packages are coming down in price. "By 2020, we expect COBs to have a higher than 70% penetration rate in downlight, streetlight, and high-bay applications, to name a few," concludes Shih.
