Lextar Electronics, a Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker as well as LED packaging house, is expected to see consolidated revenues for third-quarter 2013 increase 5-10% sequentially due to growing orders for LED backlight units (BLUs) used in Ultra HD LCD TVs, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
Currently, most of such orders are coming from Sony, which adopts Ultra HD TV panels produced by AU Optronics (AUO), the parent company of Lextar, the sources noted.
BLUs for Ultra HD TV panels need much more LED chips. For example, a 55-inch conventional LCD TV is backlit by 140 LED chips, but a 55-inch Ultra HD model needs 280 chips, the sources explained.
BLUs currently take up 70% of Lextar's consolidated revenues and LED lighting accounts for 30%, the sources indicated. Of Lextar's BLU revenues, 30-40% come from the TV segment, 15% from smartphones, and the remaining from monitors and notebooks, the sources said.
Currently, Lextar has as much as 60% of BLU revenues coming from AUO, the sources noted.
In terms of LED wafer and chip production capacity, Lextar has more than 60 MOCVD sets in Taiwan and utilizes 80-90% of the capacity currently, the sources indicated. In addition, Lextar is setting up a factory with over 10 MOCVD sets initially in Suzhou, eastern China, and will begin trial production in fourth-quarter 2013, the sources said.
