Taiwan-Based LED Makers Have Lost in Competition with Supplying LED Street Lamps

Taiwan-based LED makers have lost in competition with fellow China-based makers for supplying LED street lamps for Thailand-based Kanthawichit Engineering, with China-based competitor Elec-Tech International has finally won a supply contract worth US$8.6 million, according to industry sources in Taiwan. While the China government has been promoting deployment of LED street lamps for energy savings and aims to install two million LED street lamps in 50 cities around China, local governments' open bids for procurement have been in favor of China-based competitors, the sources pointed out. Due to local governments' protectionism, China-based competitors accounted for 85% of the total procurement volume of LED street lamps in 2011, with the remaining 15% shared among Taiwan-based and foreign enterprises, the sources indicated. China-based LED street lamp makers, although inferior in product quality initially, have been significantly improved and increasingly competitive in terms of production scale, price and quality under the support of large domestic demand, the sources pointed out. Therefore, China-based makers are expected to pose increasing competitive pressure on Taiwan-based makers in the China market of LED street lamps, the sources indicated. Source: www.digitimes.com