According to the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK), Taiwan's total LED industry output value in the third quarter of 2012 was NT$24.2 billion (US$830 million), representing an on-quarter increase of 5.8%. Despite being the traditional low season, due to continuous demand for backlighting products, and indirect benefits from China's LED subsidies, Taiwan-based LED industry output in the fourth quarter is likely to reach NT$24 billion, showing a slight decrease on quarter.
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs will introduce subsidy programs to encourage households to switch to LED light bulbs. IEK believes that with the government's promotion, the LED lighting market will experience growth. Nevertheless, the current mainstream LED light bulb is 7-8W, which is less bright than energy-saving light bulbs, causing consumer dissatisfaction. LED firms have been developing 10W or 12W light bulbs to suit demand, however, these bulbs have higher prices which may not be accepted easily by consumers.
IEK suggests that the government should subsidize half of the price of 12W LED light bulbs to replace traditional 21W energy-saving light bulbs. This means the government many need to set up a budget of NT$2.3 billion to effectively create domestic demand of around eight million light bulbs and save energy up to 155 million kWh per year.
