Everlight Electronics Has Seen Its Utilization Rate Improve to 60-70% Recently

LED packaging firm Everlight Electronics has seen its utilization rate improve to 60-70% recently and expects the ratio to climb to 80% in the second quarter, according to the company. It also expects to reach full capacity in the third quarter alongside a rebound in the LED TV and lighting segments in 2012. Everlight is in a good position because more than half of TV brands will use its low cost LED backlighting technology design. Everlight's gross margin was down from 30% in 2010 to 25% in 2011, and saw profit of NT$1.31 billion, or NT$3.14 per share, according to the company's spokesman, Liu Pang-yen. Out of the total amount of products produced, applications for handsets and consumer electronics made up 51%, with visible light products at 24%, backlighting at around 16%, and LED lighting around 9%. SMD's gross product margin was at 57%, lamp displays and other products at around 18%, while infrared products were around 24%. There were 2.7 billion units produced in 2011, which is a 12% increase compared with 2010. That number includes 200 million lamp bulbs, 2.1 billion SMD units, 15 million display units, and about 350 million infrared LED units. In response to the oversupply in the LED industry during 2011, Liu said the capital spending in 2012 will be flat compared to 2011 as current production capacity is sufficient. That coupled with enhanced LED brightness and a decreased amount of particles won't require new equipment or large-scale capital expenditure (capex) plans. In terms of LED TV growth in 2012, low-price direct-lit LED TVs' market share is expected to grow rapidly. South Korean brands have seen good sales of such low-price models and it is estimated that in 2011 LED TVs had a global penetration rate of about 43%. In addition, with new low-price direct-lit LED TVs being promoted along with the closing of their gap with CCFL sets in terms of production costs, the 2012 penetration rate is estimated to rise to 65-70%, according to Liu. The spokeman also pointed out that a 32-inch direct-lit LED TV needs 32 1watt LED packaged components and a lens cap. However, patent restrictions on such a design have sent half of brand vendors adopting a different design: thicker TV bodies of 4.5-5cm instead of the previous thickness of 2-2.5cm. For such a design, Everlight offers a backlight unit (BLU) with 66 0.5watt LED packaged components. The adoption of Everlight's solution for 32-inch models will save on costs from royalty payments, the spokesman said, adding Everlight's BLU is competititve becuase of its high brightness and low cost. Liu further stated that because LEDs are growing in popularity that they will continue to drop in price, almost to half of what they are now. The penetration rate was 3% in 2011 but will rise with the fall of prices to an estimated 25% by 2015. Source: www.digitimes.com