Lextar Electronics Expects Proportion of Revenues to Increase From 40% to 50%

Lextar electronics, a Taiwan-based maker of LED epitaxial wafers and chips, expects the proportion of its revenues for LED lighting products to increase from 40% currently to 50%, according to company chairman David Su. Lextar has cut into the supply chains of the three largest vendors of LED lighting products, with 50% of shipments being to Japan, Su indicated. Lextar has attained monthly shipments of 200,000-300,000 LED light tubes, Su added. LED-backlight penetration of LCD TVs is expected to rise from 40-50% in 2011 to 60% in 2012, resulting in 30-50% growth in global demand for LED-backlit TV panels, Su indicated. However, the corresponding demand for LED chips and ASPs may decrease because improvements in backlight technology will lead to using fewer LED chips in a TV panel, Su explained. Therefore, Lextar's revenues from LED backlight applications in 2012 will remain flat from 2011, Su pointed out. Lextar's factory in Suzhou, eastern China, will begin trial production of LED chips used to make lighting modules initially in October 2011 and start shipments the following month, Su said. The factory will use an initial capacity of fewer than 20 sets of MOCVD equipment to kick off production of LED epitaxial wafers in early 2012, Su indicated. Lextar on September 29 began listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange at NT$17 (US$0.55) per share. Source: www.digitimes.com