LED industry of China and the World from 2009 to 2010

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Research Report on the LED Industry of China and the World from 2009 to 2010" report to its offering.

In the 1950s, RCA first found the infrared radiation of gallium arsenide in other semiconductor alloys. LED is a luminescence component made of semiconductor materials. The component has two electrode terminals. Voltage is applied between the terminals and electricity is switched on.

After the combination of electricity and hole, the remaining power is released in form of light. Different materials have different wavelengths and thus send out lights of various colors. This is the basic lighting theory of LED.

LED can only be applied in diodes that can send out visible light. The diodes that send out near-infrared radiation are called IRED. The diodes that can send out some ultraviolet radiation are called UVLED, and their emission peak wavelengths are near visible short wave length limits.

But generally, the above-mentioned three semiconductor diodes are collectively called LED. According to their different encapsulations, they can be divided into Lamp LED, Display LED and SMD LED. LAMP and DISPLAY belong to the mature market and their growing space is limited.

According to their different constituents, LED wafers can be divided into binary wafers (GaP, GaAS), ternary wafers (GaAlP, GaAsP), quaternary wafers (InGaAlP) and chloride wafers (GaN). Chloride wafers mainly include blue-ray, pure green-ray and white-ray wafers. They have different materials and manufacturing procedures. That LED can be so highly valued is also because of GaN materials.

The global LED industries are mainly concentrated in Japan, EU and Taiwan. EU is mainly dependent on PHILIPS and OSRAM. Japan has Nichia, Toshiba, Showa Denko, Sharp, Citizen and Toyota Gosei. Only Nichia produces mainly LED. But even Nichia, it has a high rate of phosphor business. America has CREE.

These areas have a very high industrial concentration of LED. The top three manufacturers account for over 80 percent, even 90 percent of the output values. The LED industry is comparatively scattered in Taiwan. But its top three manufacturers also account for nearly 40 percent of the output values.

Manufacturers in the mainland are most scattered and they are mainly concentrated in the Downstream. There are nearly 1,000 manufactures mainly doing the packing of LAMP with the lowest profits. Less than five manufacturers can do large-scale SMD packing and less than 10 manufacturers can produce large-scale outdoor LED displays.

There are less than 10 manufacturers producing in the upper course and most of them produce low-end binary red/green LED. The main packing enterprises are Xiamen Hualian, Foshan Guoxing, Jiangsu Wenrun, Huizhou Huagang, Shenzhen Guangliangzi, Ningbo Hepu, Jiangxi Lianchuang, Tianjin Tianxing, Lanfang Xingu, Shenzhen Ruifeng, Shenzhen Ledman and Zhuhai Leedfull (Hongke)

There are almost 10 scaled LED producers in Chinese mainland, among which there are five listed companies dealing with LED-related business. Only in Saman, Newmargin and Silan LED business accounts for over 10 percent.

LED backlight penetration in LCD TVs to grow to 40pc in 2013

AUSTIN, USA: The LED backlight market has rapidly emerged in the TFT LCD industry and is expected to continue growing for the next five years, according to DisplaySearch’s latest Quarterly LED & CCFL Backlight Report.

Specifically, DisplaySearch forecasts the penetration rate of LED backlights for LCD TVs to grow from less than 3 percent in 2009 to 40 percent in 2013 and surpass CCFL backlights in 2014 with more than 50 percent penetration rate.

Meanwhile, large-area LED backlight shipments for all applications will grow from 84.9 million units in 2009 to 434.8 million units in 2013, when LED backlights will be used in 54.3 percent of 10”+ TFT LCD panels. Thus, LED backlights will become mainstream in the TFT LCD industry.

While LED backlights for LCD TVs are growing rapidly, notebook PCs are the leading application for large-area LED backlight units. DisplaySearch forecasts that 100 percent of all new notebook models will have LED backlights by 2012. Fig. 1 shows the large-area LED backlight penetration in each application.

Fig. 1: Large Area LED Backlight Unit Penetration Rate by ApplicationSource: DisplaySearch Q2’09 Quarterly LED & CCFL Backlight Report

Backlight units for LCD TV are expected to be the next growth opportunity for the LED industry, with leading brands such as Samsung, LG, Sharp and Philips all expected to mass produce LED backlit LCD TVs in 2010. As a result, LED backlight units for TVs will grow to 3.6 million units in 2009 and 15.1 million units in 2010.

Companies like Samsung are focusing on the development of edge-lit LED backlights, which can reduce the bill of materials by 30-40 percent compared to direct-lit models. “Edge-lit LED backlight units for LCD TV are a temporary solution to drive costs down to open market acceptance for ‘LED TV’ as short-term marketing strategy,” noted Luke Yao, DisplaySearch Research Director.

“Consumers want a low-cost solution with acceptable picture quality, but aren’t always willing to pay a higher premium—making edge-lit LEDs an ideal near-term solution.”

For the monitor segment, cost and performance remain bottlenecks for panel manufacturers creating LED backlit monitors. Taiwanese panel makers like AUO and Innolux have been the most aggressive in developing LED monitor panels.

Since LED monitor panel sizes (18.5”W, 21.5”W, 23.6”W and 24”W) are also used for TV, DisplaySearch refreshed its forecasted penetration rate for LED monitor backlight units to 21 percent in 2013.

Currently panel makers are putting efforts into shrinking the LED backlight premium to $3-5 for 18.5”W panels. From 2010, we expect that LED backlight monitors will be developed and supported by brand name makers.