Some Taiwanese LED manufacturers were affected by decreased backlight shipments, which lead to a clear drop in September revenues, according to LEDinside, a green energy research subsidiary of Trendforce. Korean manufacturers still have plans to increase direct-type LED TV shipments, and with 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year holidays starting in January, fourth quarter revenue performance is hoped to benefit from increase in new product stockup, observed LEDinside.
Listed Taiwanese manufacturers total revenue was down 1 percent to NT$11 billion (US$374 billion) in Sept. 2013. Among these companies, Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers’ revenue reached NT$3.7 billion, and Taiwanese packaging manufacturers revenue was about NT$7.2 billion.
LED chips and package manufacturers revenue performance was polarized. Affected by decreased backlight market demands, AlINGaP LED and IR market performances remained stable, while 3Q revenues dipped. Benefiting from Korean manufacturers’ plans to increase direct-lit TV shipments, and upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holidays; manufacturers that have entered into the Korean supply chain, such as chip manufacturer Epistar revenue performance was stable for September and reached NT$ 1.87 billion. In addition, the display market performance was good due to World Cup 2016 lighting demands. Furthermore, steady IR orders and AlINGaP LED chip manufacturers including Epistar and Optotech had stable performance, with September revenue for Optotech reaching NT$540 million.
LED packaging manufacturers’ revenue performance was polarized. Some manufacturers benefited from lighting and smartphone application demands had stable revenue growth. However, performance for manufacturers focused more on TV backlight fell short of expectations. Low TV backlight demands continued to affect September revenues of companies including Lextar and Unity Opto. Benefitting from OEM orders by Nichia, Foxconn revenue had a steady growth of 4.6 percent reached NT$690 million. With Liteon’s vertical integration advantages, the company showed steady development in markets for lighting products, street lamps, and automotive lighting. LED lighting components benefited from successful production capacity and global lighting brand client demands, with September revenue yearly growth up nearly 20 percent. Due to increased North American and Taiwanese LED street lights market energy saving demands, monthly revenue grew w 40 percent propelled by smooth flow of orders. At the same time, automotive lighting September revenue growth continued to push sapphire substrate LED industry revenue yearly growth up 10%.
However, current price competition in the white light market has become fiercer. More packaging manufacturers have begun to switch their aim towards more profitable products, such as special application field which includes UV LED, IR, and more. Although these types of products have a limited market scale, and closed supply chain. Considering profitability, though, each packaging manufacturer has started strategic deployment in this special lighting market.
