Samsung to decrease use of LED chips in direct-type LED TVs

Samsung Electronics has scored points in marketing direct-type LED-backlit LCD TVs in North America and in order to further reduce production cost of direct-type LED TVs, will decrease the number of LED chips used in such TVs in the second half of 2012, according to industry sources in Taiwan. For its 32-inch LED-backlit LCD TV model, Samsung will reduce the use of LEDs from 32 chips currently to 20 to decrease the retail price, the sources pointed out. The decrease in the number of LED chips by 37.5% represents a proportional increase in current needed to drive LED chips, posing higher requirement for reliability of products for packaging houses of LED chips. The reduction in use of LED chips is expected to result in decreased demand for LED chips used in backlighting LCD TVs, the sources analyzed. However, lower sales prices for direct-type LED TVs due to reduced use of LED chips are expected to increase sales of such TVs and in turn demand for LED chips, the sources indicated. With the former roughly offsetting the latter, the reduction in use of LED chips will leave total production value of LED chips used to backlight LCD TVs approximately unchanged, the sources pointed out. The global market response to 32-inch LED-backlit TVs is an indicator on whether global LED penetration of LCD TVs can reach 70% in 2012. Source: www.digitimes.com