Testar expands LED chip testing services with WI Harper Group

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Testar Electronics Corp., specialists in testing and optimizing Light Emitting Diode (LED) chips and a subsidiary of Chroma ATE Inc., has signed definitive agreements to become an independent entity and to receive an institutional investment from WI Harper Group.

This infusion of capital allows the three-year old subsidiary to expand its operations and further establish its leadership role in providing testing services for LED chip manufacturers across Asia.

“We recognized early on that LED chip manufacturers have limited testing capability and must comply with evolving standards. By outsourcing LED testing, customers benefit from increased efficiency and improved quality, ensuring that manufacturers can achieve competitive prices for their high-grade chips.”

The ever-increasing demand for energy efficient and cost effective lighting is driving the rapid growth of LEDs to support a range of applications such as LCD-TV backlighting, laptop PC and computer screen backlighting and general illumination. Industry analyst iSuppli projects shipments of LEDs to nearly triple over the next three years from 63 billion in 2010 to 166 billion in 2013.

This proliferation of LED-related products is creating a new professional services sector: LED chip testing. “LEDs are now used in street lighting, consumer electronics such as backlit TVs, vehicles and numerous unique applications,” said Leo Huang, founder, CEO and chairman of Chroma and founder of Testar Electronics.

“We recognized early on that LED chip manufacturers have limited testing capability and must comply with evolving standards. By outsourcing LED testing, customers benefit from increased efficiency and improved quality, ensuring that manufacturers can achieve competitive prices for their high-grade chips.”

“Testar is ideally positioned to take advantage of the vast business opportunity in LED testing services,” said Peter Liu, Chairman of WI Harper Group. “The insatiable demand for LEDs is placing pressure on chip manufacturers to increase throughput and Testar plays a critical role in this strategic market.” Testar continues WI Harper’s LED investment program that includes LED chip maker SemiLEDs Corp. and LED emitter, light engine and fixture provider NeoPac Lighting Group.