HB-LED production sees big shift to Asia
The non-Japan Asian region of Taiwan, South Korea and China is now the world’s largest volume producer of HB-LEDs, according to a report from market analyst Strategies Unlimited. Companies in this region produced 16.8 billion HB-LED chips in 2003, it says.
According to the report, 2003 saw a substantial ramping up of production capacity and sales in China, driven largely by demand for blue LED backlights in mobile phone keypads.
Manufacturing companies in the region are beginning to close in on markets currently served by top-tier suppliers Nichia, Cree, Toyoda Gosei, Osram and Lumileds, the report says.
In 2003, the region produced 13.4 billion InGaAlP-based LED chips, a 25% increase on the 2002 figure that represents 80% of the world total, claim the report’s authors.
More surprisingly perhaps, the region now makes 40% of the world’s GaN-based LED chips, amounting to 3.4 billion in 2003. Total regional revenue for epitaxial wafers and chips in 2003 was $403 million.
Robert Walker, one of the report’s authors, told delegates at last month’s Strategies in Light conference in San Mateo, CA, that companies in Taiwan, South Korea and China had increased production of GaN-based HB-LEDs by a “phenomenal” 700% from 2002 to 2003.
Despite the emergence of high-volume production in China, Taiwan remains by far the biggest manufacturing center in the region. 87% of InGaAlP epitaxial wafers made in non-Japan Asia were fabricated in Taiwan last year, with China accounting for 10% and South Korea 3%.
The region’s GaN wafer production in 2003 was more balanced, with 73% produced in Taiwan and 16% in South Korea, where there is more demand for blue keypad backlights from phone manufacturers Samsung and LG. 11% of GaN wafers were produced in China.
This year is expected to show continued expansion, with a doubling of GaN wafer and chip capacity predicted in Taiwan.
Details of the report “Asian Producers of High-Brightness LEDs (Taiwan, South Korea, China)" are available at the Strategies Unlimited website.
