LED production value to grow by 12 percent YoY in 2013; handheld app still being key sales driver

TAIWAN: According to LEDinside, the LED research division of TrendForce, global LED production value is expected to hit $12.4 billion in 2013, representing a 12 percent YoY growth.

Handset application and LED lighting product demand are expected to be the key sales driver to spur corresponding LED demand. Yet, given that the oversupply issue will not be eased in near term, every LED manufacturers will aggressively deploy into new applications and consolidate with peers in order to secure sales and enhance profitability.

Handset and tablet PC to be new sales driver
Japanese and Korean vendors have started adopting 4.75” panel upon their established technology foothold in panel production with the Japanese vendors lead among peers by introducing smartpone with 5” high-resolution panel in 443ppi resolution.

LEDinside estimates that LED Market value for smartphone application to hit US$710 million in 2013, built on the estimated 870 million smartphone shipments amount. Thanks to the consistent migration for bigger screen size with higher resolution, some smartphones are expected to increase amount of adopted LED for backlit to increase to 10 from an average of 6-8, representing a sharp growth.

Tablet PC and handset that constantly demand for bigger panel size with higher resolution fuel corresponding LED growth. Demand for corresponding flashlight in handset will also on the uptrend as camera specification advances.

Larger LCD TV and high resolution panel to drive backlit demand
LEDinside anticipates that the amount of LED for use in TV backlit application to grow by 30-50 percent, driven by TV vendors’ brightness request into higher resolution panels.The growth is expected to compensate the current weak LED backlight demand amid negative sales impact from a slow economy and high panel inventory at China market.

With LED backlight market expected to expand in 2013, the rising market share of TV sizes ranging from 50”, 55” and 60” should help spurring corresponding LED demand. Most current large-size 50”-60” edge-lit LED TVs adopt an average of 130-150 LEDs installed.

The technology advancement of LED and LGP (Light Guide Plate) that in turn requires lesser LEDs is not expected to bring negative impact to overall LED demand in a meaningful way as an increasing shipment in large-size LED TV will still help driving the demand growth. Also, new direct type and slim direct type LED TV models are expected to be available on shelves in 2013 on a secured market share.

Vendors from China, Japan and Taiwan have already launched ultra-high-definition 4K2K (3840*2160 pixel) panels recently in order to please consumers with better image quality in bigger panel size.

LED lighting price competition to continue throughout 2013
Demand for LED lighting is consistently growing worldwide, despite some temporal drawbacks such as the Europe debt crisis and the recent election of new Chinese leaders that discourage large-scale projects.

In Europe, demand for LED lighting has started emerged as EU (European Commission) bans on the sale of incandescent light bulb after the end of 2012. In Taiwan, more LED street lamp bidding projects are also bringing sales to local vendors.

While demand is picking up, LEDinside concerns more about the lean profitability. Vendors are believed to launch more competitive solutions to address market trends on one hand and deploy into other areas on the other hand in attempts to offset the fierce price competition pressure. Of which, industrial lighting, plant lighting and freezer lighting all as some areas expected to deploy into.