Representatives Signed Three Memorandums of Understanding

Representatives from Taiwan and mainland China recently signed three memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in Taiwan over LED cooperation, creating an advantageous condition for Taiwan’s LED industry to step up presence in the mainland’s vast LED lighting market.

The three agreements address co-setting technical norm and standard for LED lighting, cooperation on LED technology development and demonstration projects of trial LED lights, and assessment and demonstration of LED lighting application projects in Shanxi Province and Harbin City.

According to Taiwan’s LED makers, signing the three memorandums provides them substantial opportunities for entering the mainland’s LED lighting market.

Secretary General of China Solid State Lighting Alliance, Wu Ling, pointed out that after signing the memorandums the mainland and Taiwan can work together to tap world LED lighting market by forming synergy alliance, in which Taiwan is versed in upstream technology and the mainland is good at midstream and downstream manufacturing. Wu was an attendee of the signing meeting.

According to a participating official of the mainland’s National Development and Reform Commission, the mainland will begin on July 1 this year to prohibit imports, production and sale of high-power incandescent bulbs in the mainland, with the ban on low-power incandescent bulbs to be in force later. Assessments on the practice will be made in 2015 to provide the grounds for phasing out the bulbs rated above 15 watts beginning on Oct. 1 2016.

The incandescent phase-out policy is estimated to provide Taiwan’s LED makers a good opportunity for providing LED replacements for the incandescent bulbs in the mainland.

To promote LED lighting, the mainland’s Ministry of Finance this year alone will spend RMB2.2 billion (US$349 million at US$1:RMB6.3) to replace one million traditional streetlights and tunnel lights as well as 10 million spotlights and recessed downlights with LEDs at airports, hospitals, schools, harbors, train stations, state-run mining companies, and on roads.

The memorandums allow mainland Chinese enterprises for the first time to invest in Taiwan’s LED business except holding dominant stakes.

Government officials from both sides all agreed that both sides should create common LED brands to tap global markets.