Due to the global economic downturn, demand for LED lighting has been weakening. Meanwhile, efficiency and price-performance ratio have been increasing, and the penetration rate of the LED lighting market is expected to continue rising. Market observers believe the CAGR of the LED lighting market from 2011-2016 will reach 17%.

According to Brian Fisher, director of Corporate Marketing at US-based Bridgelux, LED demand from emerging markets such as China and India have been slowing down in 2012. Nevertheless, the US market is expected to see growing LED demand as the government solves its budget problems. Hence LED lighting is expected to grow in 2013, said Fisher.

Bridgelux added that in the past, the LED industry has emphasized increasing brightness efficiency, but in recent years, firms have been focusing on price-performance ratio to remove the problem of high costs. As for the future, the LED industry will move toward integration of technology and smart lighting, hence, lighting design will become the next focus of the market.

Bridgelux noted that as LED brightness efficiency reaches 110-140lm/W, the technology of LED chips will enter a plateau period and growth will slow down. LED makers pointed out that by 2015, when the LED lighting era arrives, firms that have integrated both upstream manufacturing and downstream packaging will be more competitive.

Currently, the LED chip market has been dominated by 2-inch sapphire substrates. Bridgelux and Japan-based Toshiba recently announced the development of 8-inch silicon substrates which has been gaining attention from the market. Bridgelux noted that R&D for the silicon substrate is on-schedule, but further announcements require the cooperation of both parties, hence the firm currently has no comment on the matter.