Currently, new LED markets such as for LED light bulbs, which are replacing incandescent lamps, and the backlight units of notebook PCs and LCD TVs are rapidly expanding. Recently, Sharp Corp has announced that it released two types of white LEDs (nine products) for lighting equipment. One of the two types is an LED used in the backlight units of Sharp's LCD TVs.

In the LED market for backlight units, there are noticeable trends of increasing production volume and lowering prices as CCFL light sources are being replaced with LED light sources. As a result, new LED manufacturers might gather strength in the LED backlight market and pose threats to existing major LED manufacturers. Those new LED manufacturers allegedly include Samsung Group, which is rapidly increasing the production volume of LEDs for its LCD backlights, and LG Group. This time, Sharp decided to sell LEDs developed for its backlight units as LEDs for lighting equipment. Such a movement coincides with the scenario mentioned above.

One of the two types of white LEDs released by Sharp is the high-power LED used for its "LED Aquos" LCD TV. For use in lighting equipment, Sharp mounted several LED chips on a substrate and packaged them with a transparent sealing material and a sealing material mixed with a fluorescent material to improve light extraction efficiency. As a result, Sharp achieved a luminous flux of 38lm with an input power of 0.5W. The color rendering index (Ra) is 85.

The other type has more than tens of LED chips with a relatively low output on its substrate to form wiring terminals. Its size was reduced from 18 x 18 x 2mm3 to 15 x 12 x 1.6mm3 so that it can be used not only for E26 bulbs but also for E17 bulbs. Its luminous flux is 410lm with an input power of 6.7W, and its color rendering index is 87.