Seoul Starts Mass Production of Patented Filament LEDs
LED company Seoul Semiconductor has announced the immediate start of mass production of its LED Chip-On-Board Package for use in LED filament bulbs, a market currently estimated to be $1.3 billion globally.
Ki-bum Nam, CTO of Seoul Semiconductor, said, "Based on its strong patents, Seoul Semiconductor will continue to increase its market share in the filament LED bulb market, which is a blue ocean market estimated at $1.3 billion." He added: "We will widely promote the superiority of Seoul Semiconductor's LED technology with its filament LEDs."
According to the company, the filament LEDs can realise high-quality light close to natural light through differentiated Chip-On-Board (COB) packaging technology. They can produce atmospheric lighting using omnidirectional emission technology, combining a small footprint with a wide beam angle. The Colour Rendering Index (CRI) is said to be 80 or better and different LEDs having a flux between 105 and 210 lumens are available.
All of them feature a Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) of 2,700 K. Therefore, they are used to create a classical atmosphere through high-quality light in many spaces, like cafes and hotels or even bed- and living rooms, making them an alternative to incandescent light bulbs that have been phased out in 2014.
Seoul Semiconductor began developing the technology in the early 2000s, even before there was a market for filament-LEDs. It now holds hundreds of patents for filament LEDs, covering chip manufacturing, COB-packaging, module and bulb manufacturing processes.
An official at Seoul Semiconductor stated: "We are readying legal actions, as many of the LED bulbs released in the market have infringed our proprietary technologies."
The global light bulb market is estimated at 7 billion pieces annually, of which 2.5 billion units are light bulbs for various decoration purposes, a market being addressed by the filament LEDs. The can not only be applied to globe bulbs in their various forms, but also to candle lamps in special shapes. These diverse applications are supported by two different lengths of the LEDs: 38 mm and 50 mm.
