LED Epitaxial Wafers and Chips Demand Is Expected to Continue in 2012

The global production capacity of LED epitaxial wafers and chips exceeded the market demand in 2011 and the situation is expected to continue in 2012, according to president M.J. Chou for Taiwan-based Epistar. Following South Korea-based makers' expanding LED production capacities since 2009, China-based makers did so by adding a total of 245 MOCVD sets in 2010 and 420 ones in 2011, resulting in a global total of more than 1,500 MOCVD sets at the end of 2011, according to industry sources in Taiwan. The global supply of 174 million LED chips was 34.9% in excess of the global demand for 129 billion chips in 2011, the sources pointed out. South Korea-based makers of LED chips utilized 50% of their production capacities on average in 2011, while the average utilization rate for Taiwan-based fellow makers was 50-60%, Chou noted. If South Korea-, Taiwan- and China-based makers continue capacity expansion, the total capacity will continue to exceed market demand in 2012, Chou pointed out. Demand for LED chips used in LED backlight units of LCD TVs will grow along with increasing LED-backlit penetration of LCD TVs, but prices for LED chips tend to fall, Chou indicated. LED lighting, the other application of LED chips, is in considerably slowly rather than rapidly growing demand, Chou pointed out. Source: www.digitimes.com