Seiwa expands blue LED production capacity
At the end of 2002 the company began expanding the production facilities at its plant in Kyoto Prefecture, which had a capacity of 2 million units a month. The company plans to invest 1 billion yen ($8.5 million) to provide a capacity of 10 million units monthly.
The company entered the blue LED market in April 2002, having devised its own manufacturing processes to avoid patents held by Nichia and other competitors. However, Seiwa s relatively limited production capacity has prevented it from accepting large orders.
Once the expansion is complete, Seiwa expects to expect larger orders, for example to supply LEDs for use in mobile phones. Seiwa also plans to expand orders for traffic signaling products that use LEDs.
In December 2002, Seiwa began shipping white LEDs and in the following month it ordered a GaNzilla MOCVD machine from Emcore.
The company aims to increase its sales from its LED operations to a level of 2 billion yen ($17 million) for its fiscal year ending March 2004.
In the fiscal year ended March 2003, the company s LED sales, which included traffic information display equipment, came to 50 million yen. This resulted in an operating loss of about 500 million yen for the LED business.
